Upon the Stars
by Zodiac-Aries
Summary: If you were able to change the world around you, would you take it? Naruto Uzumaki asked himself this question and his answer was yes. Upon finding a blade that is able to do just that, the ninja from Konoha finds himself in a world that is the same but not the same from his own. Follow his journey as to see the world and change it's fate. Time Travel and Alternate Reality AU.
1. Prologue

**Author's Notes:** So. Yeah, here is a story I'm writing. This is what I wrote during that week when I didn't write a chapter of **Going My Way**. Okay let's say things right off the bat right here and now.

1. This is both a time travel and an alternate universe fic.  
2. The pairing here is undecided for the moment.  
3. Naruto will have a kekkei genkai of sorts.  
4. He will be powerful, but not godlike. He can still lose fights.

Now that those are out of the way. Here's the prologue to: **Upon The Stars****.****  
**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto.

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Deep beneath the soil of the Elemental Nations laid a temple, one long forgotten by those the people of the land. It's pristine beauty was now lost to the sands of time. Moss and dust covered the area. The once high stone walls crumbling due to the passage of time. Vines crawled up the walls, while several weeds and grasses spread around the floor. The main chamber of the building was largest room in the temple. It was circular in shape and was the least touched by the decaying effects of time that had been wrought on the entire temple. Inside the room were nine gargantuan statues of beasts, all with varying numbers of tails. On the far side of the wall was a tenth statue, one that is not of a beast but a man. It was the smallest statue there, but if one were to look closely the nine beasts seemed to be looking at the man making it the most important.

In the middle of a the room was a blade, rusted over due to the oxidation of the air and the countless years of disuse. The sword was pierced into a large stone slab that shined in the cracks from the roof, where light seemed to filter in. The blade, even though rusted, was blue in coloration along with some orange on the sides. It was buried almost hilt deep, that one could not see how long the blade truly was. The guard on the blade was in the shape of a four pointed star, not unlike that of a shuriken and the handle was long enough to show that it could be wielded with either one hand or two.

There was a person standing in front of the blade with their hand stretched outward. The man stood at about 5'9" with chin length spiked hair. He had blue eyes, that seemed to have lost the shine in them, having lost their innocence and the happiness in them. There were three whisker marks on each cheek. He was dressed in an orange and black jumpsuit, but it looked like it had been through hell and back. There were many rips and cuts on the clothing. Blood had dried around some of the cuts, and several burn patches here and there. This was Naruto Uzumaki, a seventeen year old ninja of Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

Or what used to be of Konohagakure at least.

It was year after the Fourth Ninja War. Many of the ninja that were fighting had lost their lives for the sake of protecting himself and another container of the bijuu, the Tailed Beasts, Killer B. They had won the war. They had beaten back Madara, the Zetsu army and the zombie troop. They had managed to save the world from meeting with a terrible fate of coming under the spell of Madara Uchiha, or the rather the person known as Tobi. However this victory came with a price. They had managed to save the world but the the Gedo Mazo, the structure that imprisoned the bijuu, had exploded. It spread the poisoning chakra of the bijuus into the sky, tainting the land and the sea. The people that survived the explosion were either poisoned by the amount of bijuu chakra in the air, or were forced to live underground waiting for the time that they would be able to once again go to the surface. It was a struggle for them to survive day to day life.

The reason why Naruto Uzumaki was here, was for one reason and one reason alone: the blade in the stone. Legend stated that it was called the _**Mugen no Ken,**_ or the Blade of Infinity. In several scrolls that Naruto had found a few months after the war about the bijuu and the Rikudou Sennin, the Sage of Six Paths, there was some that talked about this blade. Rumors had stated that it was a long lost blade of the legendary Sage had used to battle the Juubi, the Ten Tailed Beast, before he used his legendary tools. Some scrolls said it was made out of a rock that came from the heavens. Others said that it had rather odd properties most swords would not have, but those were not the reasons Naruto went for the blade. The reason he went for the blade was one legend he read that he wanted, no, hoped is true: the blade had the power to change the world.

He wanted to change the world, to change just one thing in the world. To erase Madara from history. If he was never there to begin with all the world would have not gone through with this genocide and this destruction. "Although if he wasn't born, I wouldn't have met with Sasuke," Naruto stated with a bit of humor. "I guess he was useful for something after all." The blond then shook his head. "Enough thinking about the past. I need to go towards the future."

"_**Naruto, are you sure about this?"**_ a voice deep within the confines of Naruto's head questioned the blond. The voice deep inside his head was the bijuu called the Kyuubi no Yoko, the Nine Tailed Demon Fox. It was not until the previous year he learned that the fox had a name, as well as became friends with one another. They had became close partners, ones who would could rely on each other. So now Naruto found himself deep within the recesses of his mind. His mindscape seemed to take the form of a sewer. There were pipes everywhere, along with shallow water and cracked walls. On the far side of the wall was a large cage, with the doors opened up. Within the cage was a large orange fox, with nine waving tails. It's red eyes were trained on Naruto.

"Kurama…" Naruto muttered. "I am sure about this."

"_**Of course you are. You aren't going to want to change your mind about this aren't you?"**_

"I'm not. With the way things are going right now, the human population won't even last a few more months let alone years." Naruto ran a hand through his hair. "If I can change the past with whatever power this blade possess, I'm going to take it no matter what."

"_**The consequences can be severe. We don't know what can happen if you do that, there are so many variables that we cannot account for that anything can happen."**_

"I know that, I know that." The blond began to pace. "Sadly this is the only option left. I've taken into consideration everything, All the things I've done to help the people out during the incident have come up with nothing. I tried using your chakra to counteract the effects of the chakra in the air, I tried asking several summons, hell I even tried using nature chakra. All of those came up with nothing." The blond sighed. "I can't let the people continue living like this, not after my failure."

"_**Is this really about them or about your failure Naruto?"**_ When the blond didn't respond immediately, the fox knew what his partner was going through, survivor's guilt. The fox knew Naruto would do anything in his power if it meant being able give the world a shot at being better. "_**You are that desperate huh?"**_

"Very desperate."

"_**Well, there's not much I can do to stop you now can I?"**_ The fox then smirked at the blond. _**"I guess I'll say this now since there may be a chance I won't be able to in the future. I'm glad we were partners, even if it was only a year. You made life more bearable and showed that there are people who really do care about bijuu.**_

"Ah don't get all soft on me now Kurama!" Naruto chuckled as he scratched the back of his head. "If it weren't for you I'd be dead over five times already." The human then looked at the fox for one last time and raised his fist towards him. Kurama gently tapped Naruto's fist with his own. That was when Naruto left his mind.

Upon opening his eyes one more, Naruto saw that he was still in the temple, still standing in front of the blade. Taking a deep breath, he reached out towards it. "It's now or never I guess." As he went to grab the handle, the stone that the blade was stabbed into began to shine. Naruto was rather surprised when that happened and was even more so when words appeared before him.

**TO THOSE WHO TRY TO CLAIM THIS BLADE, BE WARNED. THE MOMENT YOU TRY, YOU MUST SUCCEED. FAILURE AND GIVING UP WILL LEAD TO PERIL. ONCE YOU TOUCH THIS BLADE, YOU MUST NEVER LET GO UNTIL IT IS FREE OF THE STONE.**

"So I have to do this no matter what huh?" Shaking his head, Naruto grabbed the handle with both hands. "Here goes nothing then." Naruto tugged at the blade and it didn't budge at all. This caused him to frown. Pouring his chakra into his arms, he strengthened himself and pulled again only the blade hadn't budged at all. He kept trying over and over again. Slowly after a few minutes of pulling on the handle with no progress he grimaced. Without taking his hands off the blade, he closed his eyes and began to meditate. Slowly he felt power surging through him. Orange coloration appeared around his eyes and his own irises become not unlike that of a frog or a toad. Having turned on sage mode, Naruto tried to pull the sword out again, but yet it did not budge.

"Oh come on! Even with the power boost of sage mode you won't move a bit?" Naruto pulled even harder and yet, the blade would not budge. "Kurama help me out here!" Turning off sage mode, Naruto's bode was enveloped in a golden coat of chakra, and looked to be set a blaze. Two demonic looking arms appeared from his back and started to tug at the sword as well. Sadly it still wouldn't budge. So he kept pulling and pulling and still nothing was happening with the sword.

"_**Naruto! Stop pulling!"**_ Kurama shouted from within his head.

"What why?" Naruto stopped tugging, but didn't let go of it.

"_**Don't you see what's happening to your body?"**_ Naruto looked down at his arms and saw steam coming up from them. He knew what that meant. He had wounds and they were being healed. Inspecting one hand closely, he noticed that there were several deep cuts on his arms as well as on other parts of his body. _**"It seems as if the blade is trying to kill you while you tug at it.**_"

"Damn." Naruto tested it out by pulling on the sword again. As he did, a long cut appeared on his right arm. "So pulling won't work on this thing. If that won't work then I might as well break this stone then." Two demonic arms appeared again and they both created two spiraling orbs of chakra each. The spheres started to get larger and larger until they were both the size of basketballs. "Oodama Rasenrengan!" Slamming his techniques into the stone, he waited for the small explosion but was surprised to see none. Instead, the stone was absorbing the energy, however when Naruto tugged at the blade again, it moved upward a five inches.

"Well, it seems like I found the way to get the sword." Naruto started to feed more and more chakra into the stone and the sword kept going coming from out of the stone with the help from Kurama. Bit by bit the blade came out, but Naruto was already feeling the strain on his own chakra reserves. "Kurama how much chakra do you still have?"

"_**This thing stone is one hungry piece of rock,"**_ the fox grunted. _**"I'm using up so much chakra right now. I probably used enough to fire one Bijuu Dama."**_ That made the blond grunt in displeasure. This thing was taking way too much power. Naruto was continuously pouring energy into the stone, but unlike the beginning he was barely able to pull the thing out by a few more inches, at most it was out about a foot and a half.

"Well, let's keep going. I think this is the only way to take out the blade." Increasing their output, Naruto kept on tugging at the blade as the chakra was absorbed. It would be half an hour later when Naruto was able to pull out the sword from the stone, while pouring out so much energy from his body. Not only was he close to chakra exhaustion, but apparently the Kyuubi was as well. The good thing was their efforts were not in vain. In Naruto's hand was a three foot blade double sided blade. It was rusted over, but he could see specks of orange and blue on the blade itself. There were several insignias, probably seals, on it that stood out clearly even after all this time.

"_**No wonder no body has been able to pull that thing out, if anyone has tried at all,"**_ Kurama muttered from inside the boy's head. _**"That stone is a chakra hungry thing that even I'm exhausted. Nothing short of a jinchuuriki would be able to take that blade out."**_

"That's true. That and something around the blade is trying to cut you up while you do this." Naruto then looked at the blade. "**Mugen no Ken**, a sword with the power to change the world," he mumbled. "In legends it said it can take up the form of various other weapons with different abilities. It was also said that it would give the person an unbelievable ability." The blond's eyes roamed the blade until it landed on a seal on the guard of the sword. The array was written in tiny script but it was written around one big character, the kanji for 'world.' "So this is it partner. This may be the last we here of each other."

"_**It's been one hell of a run brat. Remember me, even if the world changes."**_

"I will." After that, Naruto raised his hand to his mouth and bit his thumb. Raising the bloodied digit to the seal, he smeared it across and focused chakra into it. He expected a big light show of sorts and he got that. What he didn't expect though was the pain, the excruciating amount of pain. It felt as if his body being torn limb from limb. His eyes were burning, his ears were ringing, hell he could even taste blood on his tongue. He could feel all his old wounds opening up one by one.

Just as this was happening, he slowly started loosing his senses. First he couldn't smell the blood on his body, then he couldn't taste it on his tongue. Soon he couldn't hear his own screams, then all was lost in the darkness of the abyss. Shortly after that he couldn't even feel his own pain. His lost thoughts to himself before blacking out were…_"Was this what death feels like?"_

If one were watching this event unfold, they would have seen it all happen in under a minute. They would have just seen a column of blue light descending from the sky engulfing the boy. They would hear out a loud yelp then it was over. When the light disappeared, any traces of Naruto was gone save for a hitai-ate (forehead protector).

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Naruto slowly opened his eyes as he he woke up. His head hurt a lot. Trying to sit up he felt a pain shoot through his body. "Ugh...why does it feel like obaa-chan and Sakura decided to play volleyball with my head…" he mumbled. He tried to move again but felt an the pain again, but luckily it was subsiding. "Kurama, tell me what's wrong with my body please."

He got no answer. The blond frowned.

"Kurama?"

Again nothing. Reaching down he lifted up his shirt and found that there was no seal on his stomach. "Damn," Naruto cursed under his breath. His partner had been right. That was also when he saw something wrong with his body. "Where the hell are all my muscles?" Standing up, although struggling to do so, Naruto saw that his clothes were a few times larger than himself. His hands were smaller, as well as everything else. "Oh you have got to be kidding me. I need to find a mirror." Looking around he saw that he was still in the temple. Deciding it was best to leave along with the blade, seeing as it was his now, he started walking towards the door. As he did, he noticed that the blade was missing. "Oh don't tell me I lost that too."

He threw out his right hand and was surprised when the blade appeared in it. Seeing that the blade was now about the size of his body, Naruto was thrown forward and tripped onto the stone floor. Groaning, he sat up after the mishap and examined the blade. He had to raise an eyebrow when he saw the differences. There was no rust, no wear and it shined like it was newly made. The edges of the blade were orange, neon orange, and the center of it was a rich navy blue. The words scrawled onto the blade itself were in red. The wrapping for the guard was a fresh white and the golden guard sparkled in the light.

At first the things written upon the blade were the numbers one through twelve, but they had changed when some of his chakra entered the blade. Upon closer inspection, the new words written on the blade were odd to him. They seemed to have nothing in common. In order they were: scorpion, scales, maiden, lion, crab, twins, bull, ram, fishes, water-bearer, goat and archer. "The heck is that supposed to mean?" He tried to swipe some blood over the seals, but they wouldn't work. Then looking at the star shaped guard, he saw four more words: fire, air, earth, water. "Well, that is odd. Now how do I make this go away?" A cyan light engulfed the blade for a second and it flashed out.

"I am going to have to see what's up here." Making his way out of the temple and standing outside of it, he found himself in a cave. Walking out of the cave took about two hours, even thought it was just a straight path with not many obstacles in the way. As he reached the mouth of the cave he finally remembered something that slipped his mind. "How did the blade change the world? It never asked me for what I wanted or anything?" Cursing under his breath, Naruto knew he had to investigate but first he had to find what was different about himself. He walked towards the east, where he remembered there was a river that was contaminated by the volatile chakra.

As he made his way through, he noticed the changes already in the world around him. There was life there. The area wasn't a desolate wasteland anymore. Trees were all around him, animals were moving about and the sky was no longer a deep burning red, but the calming blue of times before the the catastrophic end of the war. "Well one thing is for sure," he said to himself, "the effects of the battle between the masked man and myself have not occurred."

When he finally reached the river, he knelt down by the river bed and took a drink of water. After that he took a good look at himself and was not as shocked as he was when he saw his reflection. He looked like he was six again. "I probably am given the circumstances that anything could have happened," he mumbled aloud to himself. He mostly looked the same when he was that young, same amount of baby fat, same build, same everything. Well almost. His hair was still it sun kissed blond but there were also some red at the tips of his hair. His eyes that were blue were now grey and itched for some reason.

Standing up he faced east once more and headed forward; his destination was Konoha. He wanted to know what had changed in this world seeing as that seal must have done something. "Let's see what's different here."

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Leave me a review please.


	2. Changes in Konoha

**Author's Notes:** Thanks for the reviews, favs likes etc., and thanks to **Naginator **for being my beta on this thing. Here's the next chapter.

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Naruto arrived in Konoha faster than he expected, what with him not having that much chakra to run through the trees and what not. Although along the way he did have to stop by a village and get better fitting clothes for himself. The blond was now dressed in a plain white shirt and red shorts. He also wore a bucket hat over his head to hide his hair since he was somewhere near Iwagakure. Luckily the money system remained the same, he was able to use the ryou in his pockets to buy all his new clothes as well as food and a bag. He really didn't want to resort to stealing right away.

As he traveled towards Konoha, Naruto found out a few things about himself. Accompanying his lack of chakra, his chakra control was shot to hell and back. Along with the control issues, Naruto couldn't very well use sage mode without it. He'd end up taking in too much nature chakra, turning him into a frog statue. Along with all the chakra related issues, it had removed most if not all his jutsus that were available to him. Hell, all he was left with were academy class jutsus and **Kage Bunshin**, anything else would take up too much chakra.

So here he was now, looking at the front gates of Konoha wondering how to get inside._'I have no papers, so waking straight in there would be a big no. I won't be able to out run them if I try, and I'll be a criminal too. What to do, what to do?'_he thought to himself. As he was thinking, he surveyed his surroundings for anything that would help him sneak inside. What he saw made his stomach turn a bit._'Ugh, that's my best way to get in there.'_

Going down the main road was a caravan of merchants, each with their own wagons full of goods. The one Naruto decided to take was the one least likely to be checked of anything: the manure cart. Taking a deep breath, the blond boy ran towards the cart when no one was looking and slid under it. Using whatever chakra he had in him, he applied it to his hands and held onto the bottom of the cart. The blond held his breath as to not make any noise as they traveled through the gate...and to make sure he doesn't inhale the awful stench. Naruto felt the cart lurch forward for a couple of minutes before stopping. He heard several voices talking about where stuff should go. His tiny arms were shaking from the chakra use and having a too tight a grip on the frame of the cart.

When he felt it stop and people started to get off, Naruto let go of the cart. He landed on his back and then rolled to the side and stand up immediately. Luckily, nobody saw him get off. Naruto quickly scanned the roofs and saw that no ninjas were there surveying the civilian market place._"Was Konoha always this lax in security?"_he thought to himself. Making sure everything was in place Naruto headed off to see what had changed in the village he had called home all these years ago. The first thing he noticed that stayed the same though was the Hokage Monument, although it only went up to the Yondaime for now. After looking at that, he went off to scout out the area.

Sadly, unlike what Naruto had thought, he was seen sneaking into the village because a single eye followed his movements until Naruto was lost in the crowd.

(o)

The very first place Naruto decided to check out was the Uchiha compound. If anything, that was the family that put his life through hell and back, so he guessed it was as best a place to check as any. The blond was expecting a desolate ghost town of a compound, what he found was a place full of life. Uchiha children running around having fun. People going about doing their business._'It's either the massacre didn't happen yet or something stopped it."_That caused Naruto to frown, wondering what made it change? Although he was happy a bit, if the massacre didn't happen Sasuke won't go all avenger on Konoha and go dark.

"Excuse me but what are you doing?" a voice said from behind him. Naruto let out a high pitched scream and swiveled around. His arm was about ready for him to summon the **Mugen no Ken**, but stopped midway. He saw a girl with shoulder length raven hair that was curled on the left side looking at him with a curious expression. She was wearing a navy kimono with sakura trees for designs and a purple obi wrapping it up. Her onyx eyes were staring right into Naruto's grey ones. By the looks of things she was about his age, er...his current age.

"Uh...wha?" was Naruto's response.

"What are you doing here? Are you looking for someone?" the girl asked politely.

"Um...no not really," the blond scratched the back of his head. "You see I'm new here to Konoha and was trying to map out the place in my head. After walking a bit, I kind of ended up here." He motioned towards the compound behind him. "I was going to ask someone to help me get back to the main road that leads to the Hokage Tower, but er...I kind of got scared. All of those people there have red eyes and it's kind of freaky." Naruto lied, hell it was almost convincing in his ears.

The girl giggled behind her hand. "It's okay. Hey about I help you find your way there?" she offered.

"Um...if you're so sure."

"Okay, let me just get my big brother to help me. Mom and dad will get mad if he doesn't come." Naruto nodded and waited for the girl. He looked around and watched people walk by. The blond also noticed that the Uchiha's, no matter how he didn't like them, were just regular people too. People with sticks up their asses sometimes. "Hey, are you ready?" the girl asked after five minutes.

"Yea-" Naruto's voice died as he stared at the other person that the girl brought over. It was none other than Itachi Uchiha, well a younger one. The scary thing was, he looked exactly like how Naruto remembered him. Almost everything about him was the same, just like himself, but there was a one difference: his eyes. Itachi's eyes seemed to be more..._expressive unlike_ in the past.

"Hitomi, is this the boy you wanted to help?" Itachi asked the girl, who was now named Hitomi. The girl nodded her head. Itachi then turned towards Naruto. "Who are you?"

"Um...my name is Naruto. I'm new here to Konoha," the blond replied. "Nice to meet you." Naruto then leaned into Hitomi's side and whispered. "Do you have any other brothers by any chance?" When the girl gave him a confused look Naruto elaborated. "You know a brother that doesn't scare the living daylights out of me?" Hitomi giggled.

"I have a twin brother named Sasuke, but he doesn't like other people."

"Oh, I see." Naruto replied.

"So you wanted us to escort you back to the Hokage Tower correct?" Itachi interrupted.

"Yes please."

"Okay, let's go. After that," Itachi turned to Hitomi, "I have to take you to the academy. Father is brining Sasuke a little later after training."

"Sure!" The girl then beamed at Naruto. "So Naruto where do you come from?"

'_The future...and a different timeline in general…'_he thought to himself. "I come from a small town in the west. It's more based on agriculture than anything else." Naruto couldn't believe how the lie was coming out of him so easily.

"Then what are you doing here in Konoha?" Itachi inquired. Naruto's eyes became down cast as he took in a deep breath.

"I'm...looking for my family. You see I'm an orphan." Hitomi gasped and her hands to went to her mouth, while Itachi seemed to look a bit regretful for asking.

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine. That's why I'm on my little journey here. My guardian told me to head east, to find my family." Naruto thought it was a good time to stop lying, for a bit, and change the subject. "So what is this academy you were talking about?"

"It's a cool place!" Hitomi exclaimed, and it startled Naruto a bit. He never knew an Uchiha could be this _lively _before. "You see that's where we learn all these cool ninja things, but only the basics. That's where I meet up with my friends Naruko and Ino."

"Naru-ko?" Naruto asked in a perplexed voice._'Oh kami, please don't tell me that I was born a chick in this timeline.'_"Wow that person's name is almost like mine!"

"It does doesn't it? Her mom is so nice too. Hey maybe you two are related!"

"Maybe we are." Naruto adjusted his bucket hat in a nervous gesture. "I'd like to meet her."

"You should. I can introduce you if you want to."

"I'd love to."

"Great! It has to be after class though, Iruka-sensei would get mad if we brought along an uninvited guest." As the two were talking Itachi was watching them with a critical eye, or rather watching Naruto. He knew the boy was telling only half truths. The blond's story was believable enough, but there were some parts that were too vague that it was discomforting. He needed to know what this boy was hiding, just in case it was a threat to Konoha.

"We're here Hitomi," Itachi stated, getting the two kids to stop talking and look up. They stood in front of a large circular multistory building. It was red in color and had the kanji for fire in the middle of the third floor. The older Uchiha inclined his head towards Naruto before speaking again. "Here you are Naruto, the Hokage tower. Hitomi let's go."

"I'll see you around right?" Hitomi asked as she stared at Naruto. The blond nodded his head slowly and waved at the two as they left. When they were out of sight, Naruto turned on his heel and walked away.

"_Great so in this time line the Uchiha massacre hasn't occurred yet at all, or never happened. Not only that, I find out that Sasuke has a sister here. This is so weird" _Shaking his head, Naruto decided it would be best if he found out what else happened to the other clans.

* * *

After dropping off Hitomi at the academy, Itachi had to do a few simple missions to do. He did not immediately go to the Hokage with his suspicions since he was not sure if they were a large threat. So by the time it was afternoon he went to the Hokage Tower himself. Walking through the front door and up several flights up steps, he ignored the secretary and knocked on the door. "Hokage-sama, I have some urgent news," he stated.

"Come in," an elderly voice called out. Itachi opened one of the double doors before entering the room. The Hokage's office was circular in shape and had yellow pain on its walls. Three large windows were on the far side, giving a good view of the city. Several desks, file cabinets and books cases lined the walls along with a few portraits here and there. To the left of the room was a large green couch and to the right was table full of more photos. In the middle of the room was a small coffee table. There was a large mahogany desk near the windows and sitting behind it was the Hokage.

The Hokage was an old man, looking to be either in his late sixties or early seventies. He had on white and red robes, with a matching square hat. This was Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage. Standing in front of his desk was another man. He had one black ninja pants, blue sandals, a green flack jacket and a black long sleeved shirt. Around his forehead was the Konoha hitai-ate, and above that was gravity defying silver hair. The man's mouth and nose was covered by a face mask and his left eye was covered by a small portion of the hitai-ate. "Kakashi, I did not expect you to be here."

"I had some urgent news for the Hokage as well," Kakashi Hatake responded. "I found a rather interesting sight this morning in the market place."

"Did it have anything to do with a blond boy with a bucket hat?"

"You saw him?" the silver haired man asked with a raised eyebrow.

"My little sister found him looking at our compound." Itachi then went on to explain what he had heard from the boy's own mouth. As he was explaining, Sarutobi was listening with rapt attention but his eyes were trained on a crystal ball in front of him. Within the ball, he saw the blond moving around from one clan compound to the next, using the roofs to survey it from a higher point of view.

"I'm rather impressed by his stealth skills," Sarutobi commented, gaining the attention of the two ninjas in front of him. "I've been watching the boy this entire day, before you two decided to inform me about him. This Naruto boy, he had been able to get a full view of several clan compounds, and yet none of them were able to detect him. I'm surprised to say that even the Inuzuka clan did not manage to sniff him out."

"Sir, I think it has to do with how he got into the village," Kakashi interjected. The other two in the room looked at him now. "When I saw him enter the market place, he had come in by using the under carriage of a cart of manure."

"He didn't smell too bad when Hitomi and I spoke to him this morning," Itachi told them.

"Dog's have a better sense of smell than humans. The Inuzuka hounds probably smelled him and decided to leave him well and enough alone. Probably thought one of them left fresh droppings nearby."

"That would make sense," nodded the youngest of the three. "Sir, what is he doing now?"

"He seems to have finished looking into the Hyuuga compound. Although, I don't think he got much from them. He just looked around and then left," Sarutobi informed them. The old man then put away the ball and looked back at his the two ninjas. "Itachi, Kakashi I want both of you to go and watch what he does in the city. If he poses a threat, take him to Ibiki. Even if he is a child, if he is working for another village as a spy, we may have some trouble on our hands. This will be treated as a B-Rank information gathering as well as a capture mission. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Sir!"

"Good you two are dismissed." When the two left, Sarutobi swiveled his chair around to look at the village. His thoughts turning back to his successor and predecessor at the same time._'The boy looks like you Minato. I wonder what it could mean?'_

* * *

Naruto sat down on a park bench recalling what he had learned that day. _'Let's see most of this world stayed the same. Inuzuka, Aburame, Nara, Akamichi, Yamanaka...all those clans stayed the same. Only the Uchiha and the Hyuuga history had changed from what I've seen. Sasuke has a twin sister, Itachi is nice and the Uchiha's didn't go for a coup" _Naruto said to himself._"What threw me off though was the Hyuuga. Neji's dad and Hinata's dad switched places. Neji's dad is now clan head while Hinata's is part of the branch family. Does that make her part of the branch family now too? Kami, I don't think I can handle a Hinata with the mind set of pre-invasion Neji' _Just that thought made Naruto shiver in disturbed fear. "Now that is a scary thought."

He then thought about what nearly happened during his lunch._"I almost started crying when I ate at Ichiraku's again. Ever since Teuchi died, things weren't the same. I have to remember that these versions of the people have no idea who I am and I have to not break any cover."_

"Naruto!" a voice shouted, causing him to break his train of thought. Looking up Naruto saw Hitomi walking up to him alongside another girl. Naruto's eyes nearly came out of their sockets. The girl had waist length blond hair done in two twin tails. She wore an orange shirt and a red skirt. Her blue eyes looked at him in confusion. What made Naruto really worried were her cheeks, she had three whisker marks on them as well. "You are one easy person to find, Naruto."

'_You have got to be kidding me!' _Naruto shouted in his head. _'That girl basically looks like me when I use my Oiroke no jutsu!"_On the outside though, Naruto looked calm and collected. "Oh Hitomi, are classes over already?" The raven haired girl nodded her head.

"Yes, they finished a few minute ago. I had to drag my friend away from her cousin, like I said I would introduce you to each other," Hitomi told him. "Naruto meet Naruko Uzumaki. Naruko this is Naruto."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Naruto greeted as he held out his hand.

"It's nice to meet you too," Naruko greeted back as she shook his hand. The girl then cocked her head to the side and squinted her eyes, making her look like a fox. "Hey you are right, he does look like me. That's pretty cool!"

"I told you so!" Hitomi laughed. Naruto watched as the two girls laughed with each other and shook his head.

"You two seem like good friends."

"We're the best of friends around!" Naruko proclaimed as she threw a hand over Hitomi's shoulder. "We're going to rise up through the ranks and become great kunoichi, like our moms!"

"She's right. We'll become the best kunoichi from all of Konoha, and one day we'll take that title from Tsunade-sama herself!" Hitomi exclaimed.

"And then we'll go even beyond that! One day one of us will become Hokage!"

"Does it matter which one of you become Hokage?" he asked.

"Nope!" the two girls said in unison.

"As long as one of us becomes Hokage-" Naruko started to speak.

"-then the other one will become the advisor," Hitomi finished. That made Naruto smile.

'_They seem like great kids' _the blond thought to himself. Suddenly a gust of wind blew and threw off Naruto's hat. Naruko and Hitomi looked at his hair and then his face before turning away to whisper to each other.

"He really really really looks like me," Naruko whispered. "He has the blond hair to look like my dad, and the red parts of his hair may just be dye or something.

"Do you think he's like a cousin or something?" Hitomi asked. "He did say he was looking for his family."

"I don't know, maybe we should ask him." The two turned around to see Naruto rushing down the street to get his hat. When he returned he saw the two looking at him funny. "Hey Naruto, where did you say you come from?"

"A small village to the west of here. My guardian told me to head east if I want to find my family," Naruto replied.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well you see…" Hitomi tried to speak slowly.

"Hitomi here told me that you told her that you were looking for you family. Do you think that we could be related, that maybe your guardian knew my family?" The girl then smiled. "You should come and meet my mom! I'd bet she knows something about you! What do you say?" Naruto looked at them and thought about it.

"_What to do, what to do?" _he thought to himself._"Should I lie and have them show me her mom and let me stay with them? Or should I lie, and leave the village. By know someone should have noticed a small boy looking around the clans' homes, making him suspicious. Either way I'll end up lying to the girls. Hmm, what to do what to do? Might as well go with the latter. It gives me a reason to go out and learn some more about the current happenings around the world today. Plus, I need to find out exactly how to use the __**Mugen no Ken **__without anyone knowing."_

The blond shook his head and apologized. "Sorry, I think I need to travel some more. Maybe there is some people out there who really know my family, even though they are from this village," Naruto whispered the last part that neither of the girls had heard him say it.

"You sure?" Naruko asked in a confused way. "I mean my mom wouldn't mind if you stay with us even for a day. Plus, you really look like someone who would be related to my dad."

"I'm sure Naruko."

"Okay…" the blond girl sounded dejected. For some reason that made Naruto feel bad. Turning to Hitomi, he gave her a short bow of the head.

"Thanks for everything Hitomi. I'm happy you let me meet your friend here. It helped...a bit."

"You're welcome Naruto," the Uchiha told him.

"Well, girls I have to get going and get a hotel for myself. See you around." Naruto turned around and walked away. As he did he could still hear Naruko's voice.

"He could have stayed with us if he was just going to go get a hotel…" The rest of the conversation was then lost in the wind as he made his way through the crowd. By now, some of his ninja instincts were acting up. He could feel several people watching his back, but he couldn't really pinpoint their locations due to being just a six year old. As he made it past the market district and some of the housing areas, he finally made it to the Northern gate. Noticing there was only one guard there, he knew he could just rush past it but the fact that he was still being followed made it harder to do so.

That was when a large caravan was passing through. It seemed to be a festival of sorts, leaving Konoha._'Coincidence much?'_Naruto thought to himself. Naruto trailed them a short distance away and waited for the right moment to try and escape the sights of whoever was following him and get into one of the caravan's carts. He then saw his opportunity walking towards his direction.

A woman with purple hair down with a topknot was walking the opposite direction of him. She wore a beige jacket over a fishnet shirt that barely left anything to imagination and a skirt. She had black heeled sandals on her feet and a stick of dango in her mouth._'Ah Anko Mitarashi, a.k.a crazy snake lady. This is perfect. If my hunch is correct, the one following me is Itachi or Kakashi. Itachi since he would have reported me to the Hokage and Kakashi because he would have been assigned this if they saw my looks. Either way, this is my only plan."_

Reaching into his pocket he took out a five ryou coin and henged it into a book. Not just any book mind you, an orange bound book with a R-18 sign on it. A book known as Icha Icha. He then ran up to the Anko and shouted, "Hey lady!"

"What is it brat?" Anko frowned at him.

"There was this odd ninja asking me to give you this book." He showed her the henged coin. "Something about getting together or something like that. It confused me but he told me to give this book to explain what he wanted to do with you."

"Oh really?" Anko smirked and the boy nodded furiously. "Where is the man who gave this to you?"

"Um…" Naruto looked around and saw a flash of silver on a rooftop, along with some black. A smirk that would match Anko's own came onto his face, but he made sure to hide it well enough. "Back there somewhere."

"Thanks brat, now run along."

"Thank you." He then ran alongside the caravan and waited a few seconds. He heard some loud screams and voices before he moved in front of an unmanned cart and jumped in. He would then disappear from Konoha for a long, long time.

* * *

"I said I was sorry, geez," Anko apologized for like the fiftieth time that hour. Kakashi was holding an ice pack to his head and Itachi was frowning. All three of them were standing in front of the Hokage in his office, and said Hokage had a smile on his face. "How was I supposed to know that you were surveying that kid?"

"You didn't have to attack me and called me a pervert Anko," Kakashi muttered, and you can hear the irritation in his voice. "With what you did, we lost track of a possible spy." That made Anko look away feeling guilty. The moment she found both Itachi and Kakashi on the roof top she accused them, or rather Kakashi, for trying to corrupt an innocent child with his porn. Kakashi replied that it would have been like the pot calling the kettle black, because he knew that Anko would do the exact same thing. The arguing two ninjas also led to Itachi taking his eyes off Naruto for a moment to stop them from fighting. He just turned his head to the side for one second to tell the two to stop, and the next thing he knew the blond boy was gone.

"It is alright Anko, you don't have to feel guilty about this," Sarutobi kindly told her.

"Really?" the snake mistress asked with a smile on her face.

"Yes. I do believe that this boy, this Naruto as Hitomi and Naruko called him, means us no harm."

"How are you so sure sir?" Itachi asked.

"I have my reasons," Sarutobi said cryptically as he turned his chair around. All the while looking at the picture of the Yondaime Hokage._"I don't believe in reincarnation, but Minato if you are behind all of this, I hope good things will come of this newcomer."_Hiruzen then looked out over the village again as the trio left his room.

* * *

Naruko was sitting at the dinner table of the home she lived in with her mom and cousin. She had been swirling her ramen in the bowl for the past few minutes as she thought about the meeting she had with Naruto. "Naruko honey, what's wrong?" a motherly voice asked. Naruko looked up and across the table. There sat a beautiful red haired woman. She had an hour glass figure and a nice heart shaped face. Her grey eyes looked at Naruko with worry and concern. This was Kushina Uzumaki, widow of the Yondaime Hokage and mother of Naruko Uzumaki.

"Huh?"

"You seemed to be spacing out," Kushina asked. "Are you feeling sick?"

"She must be since she hasn't wolfed down all her ramen by now," snorted a third voice. Naruko pouted and then glared to her right. There sat a girl wearing a purple shirt and black shorts. Like Kushina she had red hair as well, but unlike Kushina, whose hair was straight, one side of her hair looked wild and untamed and the other was straightened out.

"I don't wolf down my ramen Karin," Naruko pouted at her cousin.

"Now you two, don't start fighting at the dinner table. Wait until after to start sparring," Kushina warned the two.

"Yes mom/auntie," Naruko and Karin respectively replied. That got a smile from the mother of the house.

"So what is wrong Naruko?"

"I was just wondering…What do we know of dad's side of the family?" Naruko stated aloud.

"What brought this up?" Karin asked. "Did it have something to do with Hitomi dragging you away right after class?"

"Yeah. She introduced me to this boy."

"Naruko, you're too young to have a boyfriend," Kushina immediately told her daughter.

"Mom! I'm only six! Plus boys have cooties!" Naruko defended herself. "That's not the point though. The point is Naruto said he was looking for his family."

"How does this relate to thinking about your dad's side of the family?" Karin asked.

"Because this boy looked like dad." That made Kushina and Karin's eyes widen.

"What did you say?"

"Naruto looked just like dad. Well almost. The tips of his hair were red and his eyes were grey. I was thinking that

maybe he was a cousin or something."

"Do you know where he is now?" Kushina asked.

"He said he was going to stay at a hotel then leave. I offered to let him sleep in our house but he said no." Kushina seemed to have become thoughtful after hearing that.

"Maybe I can ask Kakashi or old man Sarutobi to look for him," Kushina whispered to herself. Now that she knew about him, Kushina wanted to go find this Naruto and question him about his origins. Karin and Naruko shared a worried look with each other before looking back at Kushina. It seems that this was going to be a topic that would stay in the mind of the Uzumaki matron for a while.

* * *

Naruto had set up camp inside a small cave a in the forest of Fire Country. In front of him was a map of the whole elemental nations laid on a flat stone and a few fish on sticks were being cooked over the fire lighting up the cave.

"Let's see," the boy wondered aloud to himself. "Where should I go to get more information?" He looked at the map carefully before nodding his head. "First I'll head southwest towards Suna, see if I can find out what has happened to Gaara. Then I'll go clockwise from there heading to Iwa, then Kumo, then to Kiri and finally arriving back at Konoha."

He then frowned when he saw Kiri again. "I wish I could go there first to learn kenjutsu, but that stupid Tobi bastard is there somewhere and I am nowhere near ready to face him." Taking a fish away from the fire he blew on it and started to eat his dinner. He then put away the map and slipped into the sleeping bag he brought with him from the past timeline. He had a lot to do if he wanted to change things, and he'll have to train to master his blades and re-obtain what he had lost on the trip here. For now, however, it was time to catch up on some rest.

* * *

Leave a review. Next chapter...time skip to canon timeline.


	3. Return to Konoha

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto

Unlike my other fic, I don't think I'll state much at the beginning so enjoy your chapter. This has been beta-ed...a bit by **Naginator**.

* * *

"Can't believe it's been six years since I've been here," Naruto stated as he looked at the main gates of Konoha. It had been a rather fruitful six years on Naruto's life. He had seen the entire world as he traveled, learned things from different cultures, and saw different ways of life. Naruto had seen the conditions of life in all the major villages along with some smaller ones. He saw how militaristic Kumo and Iwa were, and how badly broken the economy was in Suna and Kiri. The blond also lived with some of the non-ninja people for a bit of time such as merchants, samurais and monks all just to get a better understand of the people there. This helped him change his views on life differently than in the past time line, to help mold him into a much better person.

Naruto's perspective on life was not the only thing that changed, but his appearance did too. He now stood a bit taller than he was from his first time as a twelve year old. Instead of the short boy he was, that used to be only a bit taller than four feet, he was now standing at five feet and an inch. His hair became more wild and was a messy tangle of red and blond hair. His eyes went from just a dull gray to one that oddly shined in the light. Naruto also did not wear a crazy amount of orange, but there were still some on his clothes. He now wore a black zip up hooded sweater, with dark orange lapels. He wore brown slacks that were tied by some cloth at the bottom to make them not as baggy. He also wore black ninja sandals. Underneath the jacket he only wore a mesh shirt. Strapped around his right leg was his kunai holder and on the back of his pants was where he kept all his other ninja tools in a bag.

Along with all of that, he also trained using his new prized possession the **Mugen no Ken**. He found out all he could about the weapon and practiced with it non-stop. He wasn't a master, given he had only six years worth of training, but he was more than proficient with it. When he was using it, he found it to be more than just a weapon. No, it was more than just a mere weapon. No the capabilities of the blade in battle were nearly limitless. Sadly, as he found out, he was stuck to a set number of 'forms' for the blade. From several scrolls he had read in the past few years that he had not read in the previous timeline, the blade could attain thousands of forms of several types of weapons, but each user would only have a set amount for themselves. If rumors were true, only one other person had this blade before him which was the original owner: the Rikudou Sennin. From legends it stated his weapon had over a hundred forms. Now that was too much for Naruto to handle.

The blond shook his head and started walking towards the gate. He adjusted the bag that was slung over his back that contained his belongings and walked confidently towards the front gates. The two people manning the guard station were two people he knew all too well in the past. One had brown hair that had a bang covering his right eye. His hitai-ate was done similar to a bandana and covered most of his head. The one next to him had black spiky hair. He had a goatee and a cloth covering the front of his nose and cheeks. These two were Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane respectively. Two chuunin who had the unlucky duty to guard the gate almost all that time in his past life, and apparently in this one as well.

Walking up to them Naruto pulled out some identification papers, forged by some black market shinobi that had information written that matched his fake story he told the girls he met six years ago. Hell, Naruto even managed to find a village willing to help him set up that lie. He was 'adopted' by an old man in the west who became his guardian. So technically he wasn't lying anymore. His records now show he comes from a tiny farming village to the west, in the Land of Waterfalls. An old man by the name of Gamou Inseki had adopted him when they met four years ago. Naruto also took up the old man's last name to make it more believable.

"Naruto Inseki," Kotetsu muttered as he wrote down the name in the log book. "What's your reason for coming to Konoha brat?"

"I'm here to become a ninja," Naruto confidently replied.

"Oh? You sure. You're going to be a bit behind from the rest of the current class," Izumo told him. "It's only two months away from graduation after all."

"Eh, I can handle it easy. So you don't have to worry about me." Naruto fixed the bag on his back again before looking at the people deep within the confines of the village walls. It seemed like they were setting some booths up, along with various party items. "Something happening today?"

"Oh that's right you don't know, since you're not from around here," Kotetsu stated as if he remembered something. "Today, October tenth, is the day that Minato Namikaze, our Yondaime Hokage, defeated the Kyuubi when it attacked our village."

"He gave up his life to protect us and defeat it," Izumo continued. "So that is why we celebrate each year on the day of it's defeat. We tend to go overboard though. Festivities won't start until around five though. We spend most of the day setting up." The little kid shook his head and laughed.

"Well, isn't that interesting," Naruto smiled. He already knew about it, he just forgot. He turned to leave before stopping. "Do you guys know of any places that would allow a kid to rent out an apartment?" Kotetsu and Izumo looked at each other before looking at Naruto again.

"Why where's your family?" Kotetsu asked.

"I'm an orphan. I intend to get money as a ninja and find my parents," Naruto used the same lie he had for the past couple of years. The two looked like they wanted to apologized but he held up a hand to stop them. "It's fine. Don't apologize, you wouldn't have known right?"

"Right. Also if you want a cheap apartment, where the landlord really doesn't check out the people who rents them out, go try out near the red light district. They are usually cheap there," Izumo informed him. Naruto nodded and was on his way to buy a place to settle in.

As he left a figure appeared in front of the guard station. It was none other than Kakashi Hatake. "Izumo, Kotetsu who was that boy?" Kakashi asked.

"His name was Naruto Inseki. He said he wanted to become a ninja."

"I see," Kakashi replied. He then turned to leave, as he walked away he was reading an orange book. While he was doing that his mind was else where. _"So after six years the boy has reappeared. He wants to be a ninja of Konoha huh? I should inform Hokage-sama about this."_

* * *

Naruko Uzumaki had grown up in the past few years. She had grown taller and had her body start to fill in all the right places. Although, her personality seemed to shift. She had become sort of a tomboy as she did. She wore black shorts and a bright orange tee shirt with a white coat over it. Her hair was still tied in a two twin tails, but it was a bit more fuller now than it was. On her hands were black leather gloves.

She had a big smile on her face, since it was her birthday after all. She knew it was also the day of the Kyuubi festival and that meant some trouble from the people who still thought of her as a demon and not it's container. Naruko still didn't mind though, she had her family with her at most times on this day. She could also take care of herself easily, and Hitomi would be with her most of the time.

Speaking of the girl, Naruko turned her head towards her best friend. Hitomi, just like Naruko, has been growing up into a beautiful budding girl. She too had been growing in all the right places. She wore a blue kimono top with pink flowers on it and was tied with a red obi. For her bottom she wore a matching navy shorts. Her hair was done in some sort of bun ponytail combo with a red flower scrunchy. Her black eyes were stuck on the chalkboard, with an annoyed look on her face.

Naruko was a little saddened when she saw her friend. Hitomi had changed after her older brother's disappearance. She used to be a kind carefree girl, but when Itachi had disappeared after the deaths of her parent's and a few other key clan members, Hitomi seemed to have gotten colder. Sure she was still happy to be friends with Naruko and the Uzumaki family, but she seemed to be colder to most other people even her own clan members and brother. Even after a few people tried to find out about what happened, no one had been able to figure out what went down that night when several of Uchiha's died but Hitomi was given a clue about it. The Uchiha princess never told Naruko what the clue said, but that was one of the reasons Hitomi changed.

That reminded Naruko, she looked over an ebony haired boy a few rows down. His hair was oddly shaped, almost similar to the bottom end of a duck. He wore a high collar black shirt with the Uchiha clan symbol on the back, along with a pair of white shorts. He had a confident smile on his face as several girls were swooning at him, including Naruko's own cousin Karin. He was Sasuke Uchiha, Hitomi's younger twin brother. After the incident years ago, Sasuke had garnered the attention of several of the council men, especially those on a newly made civilian council. They kissed up to him and would let him walk on them if he wanted something. Naruko, and even Hitomi, didn't like him for being an arrogant prick.

When the final bell rang, Naruko shot up and went over to her best friend. "So Hitomi, you want to go to my house?" Naruko asked. Hitomi smiled at her best friend and nodded.

"Of course, let's go," Hitomi agreed. "Then we'll go out to the festival tonight?"

"You got that right!" Naruko shouted. "Although we have to be careful, you know how the drunks are during this time of year." When her best friend nodded, Naruko turned her head towards her other friend. Her hair was also black, but in some certain lights it looked to be violet. She wore a beige jacket and black slacks with black sandals. Tied around her forehead was white medical wraps. What really set her apart though was her eyes, she had pearl white eyes. This was Hinata Hyuuga. "Hey Hinata, do you want to hang out as well?"

"Sorry Naruko, I need to teach my little sister some things on Jyuuken today so I really can't," Hinata apologized with a sad smile. Naruko waved it off as if it were nothing.

"It's fine. We can always hang out any other day right?" Hinata nodded before smiling at Hitomi and leaving. The two girls made friends with the Hyuuga girl after meeting her in the park. She seemed rather shy at first but when HInata got to know Naruko and Hitomi better Hinata seemed more outgoing and confident than she seemed to be. She was part of the branch family of the Hyuuga clan, meant to protect the main branch, and because of this she was trained at an early age to be stronger than most kids in taijutsu. She was stronger than both Hitomi and Naruko themselves in that aspect.

Hinata said her goodbye before leaving the room. Naruko then turned to her cousin Karin. The girl had sadly became an Sasuke fangirl. Now there was nothing wrong with that, oh who was she kidding, that was such a terrible fate. Naruko couldn't understand how her rather odd cousin would fall for the Uchiha 'prince.' She was going to ask Karin if she was going to go home with them, but remembered that Karin was going to hang out with Ino and Sakura, two other Uchiha fangirls.

"Naruko let's go," Hitomi nudged her. "Your mom is probably wait for us." The blond girl smiled before nodding her head.

"Yeah let's go." As the two left, several people greeted Naruko with a happy birthday. When they got to the main street the two kept talking to each other and watched as the festival was being set up. As they turned the corner, heading down the lane away from the street that headed towards the red light district, Naruko bumped into somebody. "Hey watch where you're going!" Naruko shouted.

The person wore a black hooded sweater with their hood up, obscuring their face from view. "Sorry," the person responded with a young male's voice.

"Well, be more careful next time! Who knows would you could have bumped into. There are some dangerous ninja in Konoha." The person laughed and shook his head. This caused Naruko to frown.

"You don't have to worry about me, I'm pretty dangerous myself." The figure turned around and walked towards the red light district of Konoha.

"Hey! Why are you going there? You sound like a kid, and that's not a place where kids should go," Hitomi warned the boy. The boy just laughed again and shook his head one more time.

"Don't worry about it," the boy told them. He then continued on his way.

"Weird boy," Naruko muttered, but unlike her Hitomi was still looking after the boy.

"He seemed familiar."

(Naruto)

"Heh, seems like those tow didn't recognize me," Naruto commented. "Somehow, that hurts me." As he walked through the district, he noted how all the girls there seemed to be more...prettier than last time he went here in his last life. As he passed by a group of courtesans, he looked back as they swayed their hips back and forth. "Well, don't they have some pretty fine asses. Kami, I love Konoha women."

As he kept walking he felt the presence of one person following him on the rooftops. Smirking under his hood Naruto ducked into an alley that would obscure him for more than a few seconds. Unzipping his hoodie, and touched a hidden seal on the right lapel of his hoodie. The piece of clothing turned from black to dark red, with the ends lengthening to the size of a cloak. He then exited from alleyway into the next street in the red light district, disappearing into the crowd.

(Kushina- A couple of minutes ago)

Kushina was walking to meet up with Naruko after school, to take her out to eat a quick snack before heading home to let her and Hitomi get prepared to go out to the festival that night. As she was walking down the main street, she bumped into someone. "Sorry about that," she apologized.

"Nah, I'm sorry too," the person replied. Kushina looked at the person and her eyes widened. She was looking at a young boy with blond hair and grey eyes. He had whisker marks on his cheeks and look like her dead husband.

"M-Minato?" The boy's eyes widen just a small amount before shaking his head.

"Sorry, you got the wrong person. My name is Naruto, not this Minato person." That snapped Kushina out of her stupor, but induced another bout of thoughtfulness. Didn't her daughter meet a boy by that name all those years ago?

"Did you say your name was Naruto?" The boy nodded. She was about to speak but the boy's watch went off.

"Oh sorry. I really need to go. Sorry for bumping into you ma'am." The boy then turned around and walked away, while putting up his hood. She watched as the boy made his way through the crowd, easily weaving through them. Kushina, guessing that she'd be able to catch up with Naruko at home, decided to follow Naruto. Jumping onto the roofs she followed the blond as he made his way through the heavy crowd. He had easily traversed the crowd and managed to get into less populate area.

"He's really good at blending in," the red head muttered to herself. She almost lost track of him four times just as he was walking. Kushina watched the small interaction between Naruto, Naruko and Hitomi. He seemed confident in the way he carried himself as he responded to the girls. The blond boy then entered the red light district surprising Kushina. She tried to follow him a little bit, but after he entered an alley he had disappeared from her line of sight. As she jumped onto the rooftop and looked down the boy was already gone. She looked into the main street and saw that she couldn't find him. "Where did he go?"

Her eyes scanned the area and saw no one rushing or trying to escape. She couldn't see the black hoodie at all. She considered that he could have used a henge, seeing as it was a simple technique to learn, but she didn't feel a flare of chakra. Given the place one more look and finding nothing, Kushina decided to give up her search. "I might as well find Naruko and get her a snack." Kushina then jump away from the red light district and back towards her home.

(Naruto)

After his brief walk through the red light district, Naruto walked out of it and towards the training fields. He wasn't really going to rent out a hotel, he already had something in mind. With a brisk pace, Naruto made his way through the the village and arrived at his destination. It was a moderate size cabin in the woods near the training grounds. It was made out of stone and wood with small windows. Walking towards the door, he bit his thumb and swiped it on the side of the door.

Entering the small building, Naruto looked at the deserted building. Past the entrance was a living/sitting room attached to the kitchen and dining room. To the left was a hallway that had a small utility closet to the right wall and the bathroom to the left. On the other side was another hallway, this one led to a master bedroom and a guest bedroom. This building had indoor planning, working gas lines and running electricity.

Naruto had found this building in the last timeline completely by accident. Oddly enough, he found it on this same day too. He was having a bad birthday and festival all together. As usual people ignored him and really didn't care much for him; however, that night was severe. That night several drunks had tried to attack Naruto, calling him a demon. He managed to escape them, managing only to get a cut on his hand. The blond had found this cabin during his escape and accidentally smeared the blood on the door. It was then the door opened and Naruto stayed the night. The curious boy had searched the room and found barely anything in there, it was completely barren of anything, but it gave him shelter for the night.

After that night, he simply forgot about the building. It wasn't until after the war he accidentally stumbled upon it again, still in the same exact condition. That day he examined the entire house and found that there were several seals on the building. There was a basement door in the master bedroom that led to the very large basement. In there was a generator with a seal that converted chakra into electricity. On the water heater was another seal that actually heated up the plumbing. He found lock seals on the doors and windows that could only be opened by the blood of the person or at least a relative and a variety of other seals all around the house. It was then he knew whose house this was, it was his parents'. It was probably the home they had before they found out that Kushina was pregnant and decided to move into a bigger house.

So here he was now, in the new timeline, living in his parents house. Looking at his watch and saw that the festival wouldn't start up for a few more hours Naruto smiled. "Well, let's get this place cleaned up," he told himself. Putting his fingers in a familiar cross shaped hand seal, Naruto called out his signature move, "KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" Suddenly there were over twenty Naruto clones in the building. "Alright guys, let's get this place cleaned up and ready for me to live in! After that we can party!"

"Yeah!" the clones shouted in unison.

"And by 'we' I mean me!"

"Boo!" Even though they complained, the clones set out to work. The real one also helped out cleaning when he unsealed a broom and a couple of wash rags from a scroll in his bag. Naruto started work around three o'clock and ended around five thirty, with all the help of his clones. By now the festival was already in full swing, but Naruto decided to look over his handiwork first.

The living room now had a sofa, a bookcase, a coffee table and couple of plants. The kitchen now had a fridge, a working stove, a few other appliances and a fixed sink. In the dining room was a table with four chairs. He had placed the now clean brooms, mops and buckets into the supply closet and had cleaned up the bathroom. Naruto even replaced the broken mirror in the bathroom, with a newer one. The blond struggled with the shower head and a few of the bathroom items, but he managed it rather well. The bedroom now had a bed, a dresser, a wardrobe, a desk and a few other knick knacks that he collected over the past six years. In the room across from him, Naruto put a spare wardrobe, a bed, a mattress and an empty shelf; to be used if anyone would sleep over.

After one look around, Naruto took a bath, changed clothes (which looked exactly the same, save for the jacket was now blue in color with a red inside) and walked out towards the festival.

(Naruko- a few hours later)

Naruko was not having a good night. It _started_ out amazing, but after a few hours in the festival things started going downhill. She had met up with her mother after class and managed ate some dango along with Hitomi. The Uchiha princess gave her goodbyes and promised to meet after they got ready. Naruko got home, took a nice bath and was greeted by a few gifts from her family. Her mom had gotten her a black jacket with orange highlights and Karin gave two new ribbons to tie her hair. Naruko gave them a hug each, although Karin complained a bit about being too emotional. Hitomi then came over with a gift, a new set of kunai and shuriken since hers were getting old.

The quartet then went to the festival and had fun. Karin broke off to go find Ino and Sakura after a few minutes, but Naruko was okay with that. Her cousin had more in common with those two than she did with herself. Along the way, they met with a few other friends, some giving her gifts for her birthday. Naruko really like the steel-plated, fingerless gloves Hinata gave her. Hinata told her that her uncle, Hizashi, helped her pick it out as a gift after describing Naruko as a girl who liked getting into fights.

It was around nine o'clock when things started to turn sour. Hitomi had to go home early, seeing as Sasuke got into some trouble with a few kids. Being the his sister, Hitomi had to scold him for his stupidity. A little while after that, Naruko got separated from Kushina due to a large crowd. After being pushed and shoved for a couple of minutes she found herself in a seedier part of Konoha.

There she was met with several drunks, both men and women, who started to shout at her calling her a demon. They then all agreed that they should 'finish' what the Yondaime started, forgetting the fact that she was that very person's daughter and under the protection of the Sandaime Hokage. Being physically fit, Naruko had managed to beat down several of the drunks but it turned worse once more. Several more drunks appeared, this time they were ninjas. They too were against her. Knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to take them on just yet, she ran.

The blond girl hoped that her mother would find her soon, before it was all too late. She also wondered where the heck was the extra ANBU the Sandaime order to protect her was. Turning down an alley, she ran down it only to stop dead in her tracks. There was a large wall in front of her, a dead end. "Crap," Naruko muttered under her breath.

"There she is!" a drunk villager shouted. Naruko whipped around and her eyes widened. The mob was slowly coming down the alley, shouting at her. "Kill the demon!" the person shouted again. This had a roar of approval from the rest of them. They started to move in closer and Naruko closed her eyes.

'_Oh Kami, I'm going to die!' _she thought to herself. The girl then started to cry. _'I don't want to die! Hitomi! Karin! Mom! Help me! Someone, please help me!'_

Naruko heard a thump in front of her, as well as hearing the crowd stop their movements. "Don't you guys know it's bad to bully others?" a voice stated. Naruko opened one teary eye and saw the boy from that morning standing between her and the crowd. "I mean look at her she's crying for pete's sake."

"Get out of the way kid! This has nothing to do with you," a ninja, chuunin due to wearing the olive green flack jacket, shouted.

"Yeah! It is between us and the demon!" a civilian shouted.

"Demon?" the boy questioned. The boy turned his head and looked at the girl behind him. Naruko's blue eyes were able to meet his gray ones. She saw sympathy in his eyes, as well as some anger. The boy then turned his head back toward the mob. "I don't see a demon. Just a cute girl, who is crying."

"You don't know her like we do! She murdered our families!" A shout of agreement was emitted from the group.

"Now get out of the way, or die with her," another ninja, this time a genin, ordered. The boy took down his hood and scratched his head, revealing his blond hair. Several of the people gasped at the boy's appearance.

"Yondaime?" several ninja whispered amongst themselves. Naruko could see that the people were in shock after seeing the boy, but since she could only see the back of his head she couldn't see why.

"I don't know why you people keep calling me that, but I'm not this person you think I am." The figure pointed his thumb at himself. "I am Naruto Inseki, and I won't let you hurt this girl." That seemed to break the crowd out of their thoughts and shouted for his blood as well. On the other hand, Naruko was shocked.

'_Naruto?'_ she thought to herself. _'Is that the same Naruto from all those years ago?_' Naruko watched as Naruto hold out his right hand to the side. On the back of his hand she saw a symbol appear. It looked like the letter "V" but with the ends curved. Underneath it, the kanji for ram appeared. In a flash of red light, a weapon appeared in his hands. Upon closer inspection, Naruko figured out what it was. It was a khakkhara with a golden ornament on the top of it with six ring, three on one side of the staff and three on the other. The body was a dark red and the bottom had another golden piece, that looked like the symbol Naruko saw appear on Naruto's hand, to stabilize it.

"Now, if you want to get to her you'll have to go through me first." Naruko watched as some random person ran forward. She could feel a spike of chakra come from Naruto, before he slammed the staff into the person's gut. The person looked pained, before falling to the floor unconscious. Another person ran towards Naruto but the blond hit the end of the staff onto the person's leg. The hit didn't look like it hurt, but the man fell onto one knew. Naruto followed it up with a swing at his face, and that man also went down unconscious. Naruto saw a ninja running on the wall, who then jumped at him. Naruto also hit the staff onto the person's arm, causing him to fall off the building. The arm Naruto hit went limp.

"Wh-what did you do to me?" the ninja asked. "Why can't I feel my arm?" Naruto laughed before, he hit the ninja across the face, causing him to fall unconscious as well.

"You know what, I'm bored now," Naruto muttered. Those who can feel chakra, felt a massive amount of it gathering in the staff. Naruto raised it up and shouted his jutsu, "_Yume Kumo (Dream Cloud)!" _Naruto slammed the khakkhara into the ground and a white mist was emitted from his the staff. It put everyone it touch to fall down and become unconscious. When everyone from the mob fell asleep, Naruto lifted up the staff and turned towards Naruko. "Well, I should just have used that from the start no?" Naruto teased.

The girl was still surprised by the fact that the boy she met all those years ago had reappeared, not only that he helped her out. "Let's get you back to your mom okay?" Naruko, still in shock, only nodded her head as he led her out of the alley. When they were far away enough, she noticed Naruto jingle the staff before making it disappear.

"What did you do?" she asked.

"I woke up the people who went to sleep." Naruto then turned towards Naruko. "So where was the last place you saw your mom?"

(Sandaime)

Sarutobi had watched all of this take place. After being informed by Kakashi that the Naruto boy had reappeared. He had watched the entire time as Naruto mislead Kushina through the red light district, but unlike the red headed woman Sarutobi was able to follow him. He watched as the boy find an old house in the woods and fix it up. When Naruto went to the festival, he watched as the boy weave through the entire crowd and seemed to watch Naruko and her family. When the girl got separated, Naruto followed on the rooftops. When the mob was about to attack, Naruto jumped down and defended her. Now, the boy was leading her back to her mother.

"Just who are you Naruto?" Sarutobi mumbled to himself. The boy clearly seemed to care for the girl in one way or another. "Did Minato send you to watch over his family? Are you his reincarnation? Who are you?" Sarutobi then turned his chair around and stared out the roof. The old man was surprised to see a note on the window sill. How did someone get behind him without him knowing it scared him a bit. Reaching out Sarutobi opened the note and read it. It only had five words on it.

"Let us meet tomorrow. -Naruto"

* * *

Ninja Info Guide

Naruto Uzumaki (aka Naruto Inseki) Stats:

Ninjutsu: 4

Taijutsu: 3.5

Genjutsu: 2.5

Intelligence: 4

Strength: 3.5

Speed: 4

Stamina: 5

Weapon of Choice: Mugen no Ken.

Current Known Jutsus (shown in series): Kage Bunshin

* * *

Mugen no Ken Form:

Aries- _Bokujin no Yume (Shepherd's Dream)_

Weapon Type: Khakkhara

Affinity: Fire

Ability: By focusing chakra into the staff, the person can cause extreme fatigue into his opponent. Hitting the face or close to the heart, would cause instantaneous unconsciousness. Hitting any other body part, they lose energy in that part and become fatigued. This is done by draining the energy of the other person.

Secondary Ability: By jingling the rings, the user can awaken those put to sleep. It can also dispel genjutsus

* * *

Leave a review, please? Some criticism is well liked.


	4. Meeting the Hokage

Yo. I'm back. Sorry if it took awhile lots of shit was going down during summer. Summer classes, weddings, funerals, surprise trips to Vegas. SO yea. Also this will take me a while to get back into writing longer chapters. I swear I was struggling to get this much done, it was kind of scary. Well, here is the new chapter. Please leave a review after reading it please. Also I thank **Naginator** for beta-ing once again.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto.

"So you are telling me you don't know how to run up a tree without using your hands?" Naruto asked as he walked alongside Naruko. After helping out the girl, Naruto had decided to take her to her mother just in case something else would happen. "I mean really? You have the Bloody Habenero for a mother and she hasn't taught it to you yet?"

"Why? Was she supposed to?" Naruko replied. Naruto scratched the back of his head before answering.

"Well, not really. I just thought you know...she would have."

"Did the other parents teach their kids this?"

"I dunno. I mean they should. It's a usefully technique." Naruto then shrugged. "Well, either way just ask her later or wait until your genin sensei teaches you."

"Okay then!" Naruko smiled. "You know I didn't really get to thank you for helping me back there."

"It was no problem." Naruto just waved it off. "I mean any one would have helped you out."

"Not really but I really appreciate what you did." Naruko smiled at him again. The two then continued to walk in relative silence. Of course with Naruko being her energetic self, it didn't last longer than two minutes. "You know Naruto, even though I only met you once five years ago I remembered you." Now that surprised Naruto. He really didn't expect Naruko or Hitomi to remember him. How could they when they only knew each other for a less than an hour?

"Really?"

"Yeah. I remembered you for these past five years."

"How?" Naruko looked him dead in the eye and replied.

"You remind me of my dad."

"Huh?"

"Well, you look like him is all. So each time I see a picture of him, for some reason I remember you." It was quiet for a moment before Naruto let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh thank kami that's the reason," he sighed.

"Huh?" Naruko asked confusedly. Naruto let out a chuckle.

"I thought you had a crush on me or something, for over five years." Naruko blushed and smacked Naruto over the head.

"B-Baka! I like someone else! Besides why would I like you when I barely just met you!" Naruto opened his mouth to reply but suddenly he felt something impact him from behind causing him to fall.

"Get away from her you jackass!" a female voice shouted from above him. Shaking away the dizziness of the fall Naruto looked up to see Karin standing over him, with a fist curled up. "You think you can get away with kidnapping Naruko don't you."

"The hell is wrong with you?" Naruto stated as he pushed her off of him, causing her to land on her behind. "Kidnapping really?"

"Naruko was shouting and at you! She has also been missing for half an hour! You must have been trying to kidnap her jackass!" Naruto's right eye twitched. He remembered Karin being odd and…expressive with her anger, but this was taking it a bit too far. "Even though I may not like my cousin much I'd still help her out if need be!"

"Just because she was shouting at me doesn't mean I was trying to hurt her you crazy woman!" Naruto shouted back.

"What did you call me!?"

"You heard me!"

"Both of you stop it!" Naruko shouted. Naruto and Karin huffed before turning away from each other.

"He/She started it," Karin and Naruto stated simultaneously. Naruko groaned.

"Karin, you don't need to shout at my friend. He wasn't trying to hurt me, in fact he helped me." She then turned to Naruto. "And Naruto, please don't argue with my cousin. She had the right to be worried for me." Naruto and Karin grumbled before looking at each other.

"Sorry," they both said to each other. Although if one were to listen carefully the two insulted each other under their breaths. Naruto took the frown off his face before putting on a smile. Taking in a deep breath Naruto spoke again. "My name is Naruto Inseki, nice to meet you."

"Karin Uzumaki, the pleasure is mine," Karin grounded out. They shook hands before looking away from each other. "So Inseki, what did you do to help my cousin?"

"I stopped a gang from hurting her."

"Thanks for helping my stupid cousin, I guess."

"It was no problem. She seemed to have gotten herself into a stupid situation. Does she do that often?"

"Usually only detention at school and a few pranks." The two teens smirked before sharing a small smile. They were starting to get along.

"Hey don't insult me while I'm right here!" Naruko shouted next to the two. The two teens looked at each other before laughing.

"Naruko, Karin!" the trio turned around to see Kushina running towards them. "I was looking all over for…" The words died on her mouth as she saw Naruto standing in between the two girls. "Hello Naruto-san."

"Kushina Uzumaki, the Bloody Habenero, your reputation precedes you. My name is Naruto Inseki, nice to meet you!" Naruto offered his hand to her.

"It's nice to officially meet you too Naruto." She then turned to her daughter and niece. "Now what troubles have you gotten into Naruko? I had to bother Karin during her time with Ino and Sakura to find you." Naruko looked sheepishly at her feet, before shuffling a bit.

"I-"

"I accidentally bumped into her and made her show me the way around Konoha during the festival," Naruto lied. Both Karin and Naruko shifted their eyes uneasily towards Naruto. "I'm sorry for not giving her time to tell you."

"It's fine. Just...Give us a little warning next time okay. I mean it's not every day some random boy asks my daughter out on a date."

"MOM! It wasn't a date!" Naruko shouted.

"No of course it wasn't," Naruto said with a smile. "I don't think Naruko here would be able to handle a date with me."

"Yeah, I wouldn't be able to handle a date with-HEY!" Naruko glared at the blond boy, while Karin and her mother were laughing. The boy let out a small laugh before turning to walk away.

"Well, I'm going home now. It was nice meeting you guys. Hopefully, I'll see you guys more often." As Naruto started to walk away, Naruko called out to him.

"Naruto!" The blond turned around and raised an eyebrow at her. "Do you want us to walk you home?" Naruto waved his hand and shook his head.

"Nah, I'm good. Besides, you should still go around and have fun. I just moved here so I'm a bit tired. See you tomorrow." Naruto smiled at them and walked off. Kushina, Karin, and Naruko watched as he left before one of them spoke up.

"He seems like a nice boy," Karin stated. "Although he's got nothing on Sasuke-sama." Naruko opened her mouth to defend Naruto, but stopped herself. Other than the odd staff thing, she really didn't know how good he was.

"What do you think he meant when he said he'll see us tomorrow?" Kushina wondered aloud.

"Maybe he'll join our class," Naruko suggested.

"This late into the year?" Karin asked in disbelief. "He'll only be able to do that if the Hokage agrees."

"Maybe he will." The trio of Uzumaki women then continued on their way into the night.

* * *

The blond sat on a stump with Shepherd Dream out, resting on his shoulder. All around his body were several sleeping bodies of ANBU. After he was alone and made it partially into the woods, Naruto summoned his weapon and emitted a fog of sleep all around him. That was when the ANBU started to fall asleep one by one. When Naruto checked their bodies for some identification, he was not surprised to see that they were ROOT ANBU.

"Well well, looks like that old war hawk is spying on the Uzumaki family," Naruto said to himself. Standing up, the blond made his way back home. He'd take this up with the Hokage when he visits the next day. For now he'll sleep. He entered his house and activated all the protection seals on it for a good night's rest.

* * *

Hiruzen Sarutobi had arrived at his office around six in the morning the day after the festival. Sarutobi was waiting for the first appointment of the day; one that he suspected would be a very interesting boy. Around an hour later there was a knock on his door. "Come in," the Hokage commanded. Through the set of doors, Naruto walked in with a smile on his face. The blond boy was looking around the office with a curious look.

"You have a nice office Hokage-sama," Naruto said as he walked towards the desk. "Full of nice looking books and what not."

"Ah you are, Naruto Inseki, are you not?" the Hokage greeted kindly.

"Yup that's me." The old man put on his most grandfatherly smile and offered Naruto a seat. The blond boy nodded and sat down.

"So what is it that you want to talk about Naruto-san?" The blond looked around for a moment, causing the Hokage to raise a curious eyebrow.

"Do you mind if we speak in private?"

"But we are in private."

"Really? How come I can feel several chakra signatures in the room then, not just our own?" the blond asked slowly as he looked at the Hokage with a confused look on his face. In response the Sarutobi's eyes narrowed as he looked at the boy.

"What are you talking about?" The boy just smiled and shook his head.

"Hokage-sama, we can do this one of two ways." Naruto put up a finger. "First way is you making your ANBU leave the room so we could talk privately." The blond boy looked behind him and saw the slightest movements in his peripheral.

"And the other?" Sarutobi asked with a raised eyebrow. He did not expect the kid to detect the ANBU.

"You can keep them here and I can lie my ass off and we'll reach nowhere fast. We both know that that is not a good option." The Hokage frowned. He could force the boy to talk; he was the strongest person in the village after all. Sarutobi could do just that. But he didn't instead he was willing to listen to the boy. He seemed kind enough, that and he helped out Naruko who was like a granddaughter to him. Even if this boy was an assassin sent to kill him, Sarutobi was sure he could take him on. So with a nod of his head, two ANBU appeared and left the room. This left the two of them. Sarutobi then proceeded to close all the windows and activate some seals.

"There we go. We are in complete privacy, now will you please talk." Naruto raised an eyebrow and whistled.

"Damn, I didn't think Konoha would be this lax, even for you Hokage-jiji." Sarutobi didn't know why but there was a small upturn to his lips when he heard what the blond called him. The blatant, yet caring, disrespect that was so similar to Kushina and Naruko was in his tone too. "Well, that is fine. We can do something about that later." Naruto then stood up and cracked his neck before bowing. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Naruto Namikaze."

Those words made Sarutobi pause and widen his eyes. "Are you related to Minato?"

"If you are talking about the Yondaime Hokage, then yes, yes I am."

"What is your relation to him?" Sarutobi licked his lips and swallowed the saliva that accumulated in his throat.

"I'm his son." Just before the old man can speak, Naruto put up his hand. "Before you can ask, no otou-san did not cheat on Kushina."

"Then how?" Sarutobi asked. Naruto looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was close to seven in the morning now.

"I won't make it to class now, but whatever. This takes importance." The blond then put on a serious face and sat down again. "Now when I tell you everything you need to have an open mind Hokage-jiji."

"Why?" Sarutobi asked slowly.

"Because sometimes the truth is more farfetched than a lie." He ran a hand threw his hair and frowned. "This story will probably take all day, but I need you to listen with an open mind and hold off on your judgment until after the story. Can you please do that Hokage-jiji?" Naruto looked expectantly at Sarutobi. The old man seemed to consider it for a moment before pressing the button on the intercom. The old Hokage saw Naruto tense.

_'It seems like he is preparing to escape or something. Good instincts,'_Sarutobi thought to himself. "Kaede, please cancel all my appointments today. I have an interesting matter to attend to."

"Okay," a female voice replied from the other end of the intercom. He watched as Naruto relax slightly but was still on alert.

"Now, please tell me this story of yours." The blond sighed.

"What do you think of alternate timelines and universes?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because I am from a different timeline."

* * *

As Naruto said, it took the entire day to explain his situation. They had to call in food for lunch and dinner. The old man was surprised at the boy's request for an insane amount of ramen that rivaled the amount that Kushina and Naruko ate on a weekly basis. Naruto actually finished his story right before dinner, giving Sarutobi what he called a 'shortened version' of his own history. Even if it was short, the entire thing took about thirteen hours to tell it all.

"That is one...outlandish story Naruto-kun, I'm not sure I believe it," Sarutobi told him after the whole explanation. The boy was leaning against his chair with his hands over his head. "Are you really 22 years old?"

"I don't act like it do I?" Naruto replied. He then smirked at the old man. "It's up to you whether or not you believe me." He shrugged. "Either way I was going to offer my services to Konoha. Although I have to be a genin for this again." Naruto paused a bit and frowned. "Now that I think about it, I was never promoted. So I'm still stuck as a genin! This is so annoying!" Sarutobi was again watching Naruto and his odd antics before clearing his throat. "Oh, sorry about that. I tend to forget that there are other people here too."

"It is fine. But as you were saying, whether or not I believe you, you will still help Konoha?"

"Got that right. Konoha is my home first and foremost. I will do all I can to help out anyone here, as well as try to change the course of destiny. Although, I'm not sure how I can do that with all the minor changes I've seen already." The Hokage strained his ears to hear the next sentence. "Like how I couldn't find Gaara in Suna."

"So you still intend to be a genin? That is odd. I can have you apprenticed to help you go faster through the ranks." Naruto shook his head.

"Nah, I'd rather earn my rank, just like I would have." Naruto then smiled slightly. "Although I'm surprised by how calmly you are taking this."

"I may not believe you, but I can feel you are not lying. Even if you did take five years to create a lie such as extravagant as this, I do not think you would lie to someone like me. If your story is indeed true, then you saw me as a grandfather figure and that would deter you from trying to lie to me," Sarutobi explained.

"Makes sense," Naruto replied. "So will you be willing to let me join the academy even though it is this late into the year?"

"Will you be able to catch up with them?"

"Really? You're asking that? I defeated two god-like ninjas and you think I can't…" Naruto stopped talking when he saw the smirk on Sarutobi's face. The blond rolled his grey eyes and smiled playfully. "Very funny old man, yes I can handle a bunch of academy basics. Now that I have a decent grip on chakra control, I can do that clone thing with no problem. Although I can still do shadow clones."

"I see. You seem to be giving me a lot of information."

"It's to build trust Hokage-jiji. Can't do anything without it." Sarutobi nodded.

"Good point. Very well I will tell the academy of your enrollment tomorrow." Naruto nodded his thanks and stood up to leave. "Where will you go to live for now Naruto-kun? I mean I can offer you a small apartment for you to live and give you a small stipend to buy food and other necessities."

"Nah that's fine. I have a house to live in and money from all the odd jobs I've done on the way here." Naruto smiled in thanks. "I'm good. Now I have to think of an apology for Hitomi and Naruko for not meeting with them today. I kind of promised I would but I didn't." When Naruto saw the Hokage raising an eyebrow. "I've lived through one lifetime off not know how to handle girls. I won't make the same mistake here."

"Ah yes, the irrational fear of teenage girls phase, I remember those days too," Sarutobi chuckled. "Good night Naruto. Will you need assistance getting home?"

"Nah I can take care of myself." Naruto cracked his neck. "If someone underestimates me, they'll likely end up in the hospital." The blond gave one more nod to the Hokage before heading out the door. When he was out the door, Sarutobi looked to the side and saw narrowed his eyes.

"Do you think he saw you too Jiraiya-kun?" the old man asked. To the far left another old man, albeit younger than Sarutobi himself, dropped some tapestry and frowned. He had a mane of white hair and a large metal headband with the kanji for Oil on it. He wore an olive green gi with matching pants, geta and a red shirt. Going down his face were two red lines. This was Jiraiya, the great Gama-Sennin of Mt. Myoboku.

"I'm not sure. He seemed to look that way a couple of times," the man replied. "Do you really believe him sensei? Do you really believe that tale he spun?"

"I believe it." When he saw his student raising an eyebrow at him Sarutobi shook his head. "There is a possibility with all he said. As you know Jiraiya-kun, that ninjutsu is a vast branch in our work. As you know Minato made a space time ninjutsu. That means there is a chance that Naruto had also found a way to do something similar but on a far grander scale." Jiraiya nodded his head, knowing that much was true. "Although, I do not believe I can fully trust Naruto just yet. With what he told us, we cannot truly comprehend his actions until the right time."

"I can see that. So I'm guessing you want me to keep an eye on him?" Jiraiya asked.

"For now yes. I want you to report to me what you see of him until the time he is assigned to a genin squad."

"Got it. I'll get on that tomorrow. For now I think I'll visit Kushina and the girls."

"Do not do anything stupid again Jiraiya-kun. I don't want to bail you out from getting castrated when you accidentally walked in on Karin-chan taking a bath." The old sage face faulted as he went to the window that was now unlocked.

"That was by accident! I swear I didn't hear water running or the fact that the door wasn't locked! I'm not a pedophile!"

"It was because you went unannounced. Just...be careful. We do not want Kushina running after you with a rusted butcher knife."

"Agreed." Both men shivered at the thought of the woman chasing after one of them, shouting out profanities down the street and waving around a rusted cleaver in her right hand.

* * *

As Naruto made his way down a darkened road towards his home, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on edge. He muttered something under his breath before his right arm twitched. A dark blue flash occurred around his open palm and something appeared in it. In it appeared a rather sinister looking knife. By standards it looked more like a kris due to its wavy blade. The blade itself was black, but the center of it was a sickly purple color. There was no guard and the handle was wrapped with a black cloth. On the purple part of the blade was a small insignia. It looked like the letter 'M' with an arrow at the bottom of the left leg.

Naruto's eyes seemed to change in that moment. The pupil seemed to lengthen and narrow such as that of a cat. His fingernails seemed to lengthen and sharpen into claws. The whisker marks on his cheeks seemed to deepen in a very similar way to that when he was influenced by Kurama. As he walked forwards, he suddenly blinked out of existence. There was no sign of_shunshin_nor any other jutsu occurring. All was quiet on the field for a couple of moments before screams of pain were heard from around the road.

Three bodies fell onto the ground, all writhing in pain. They were dressed like the ANBU seen much earlier that day, save for one big difference. Instead of having an animal mask on their faces, these were blank. One of these people had several large cuts on his throat, the two others had only small cuts on their arms that looked slightly purple but they were frothing at their mouths.

Naruto appeared before them with a frown on his face. His free left hand was bloody and there was also blood on the knife. The knife also had some other liquid falling from it. It was dark purple ooze. With another blue flash, the knife was gone and Naruto's features returned to normal. The blond eyed the forest for a few more seconds before he disappeared again, leaving no traces to be followed. Even the smell of the blood from the killed man was gone from the area. He was really not liking how Danzou kept sending people after him. This time though, it should leave a message.

-O-

Iruka Umino was a calm, caring and patient man. He was caring man for he took interest in his students and wanted the utmost best for them in life. He was a calm man for he took everything in stride, willing to work out the problems with most of his students. He was a patient man for he could tolerate most of the things most students would go through. However, his patience would always run out with one thing.

"NARUKO WAKE UP!" he shouted. The blond girl's head shot up from her desk and she wiped off the drool from her mouth. Next to her Hitomi was shaking her head and a few snicker could be heard from all around the room. Naruko Uzumaki was a good girl that had a lot of energy and potential. Her mother had been helping her along with her work, he knew that much; and Hitomi would also help here and there, mostly keep her in line from doing her favorite hobby: pranking. Iruka just couldn't get her to stay awake in class. He cared for her, he really did, but it was a bit trying on him when she would just slack off. "Why are you sleeping in class again?"

"Sorry, Ero-sennin came by yesterday and gave me some training," Naruko yawned. "I couldn't even learn how to do the jutsu he was showing me. Sot it was a wasted night."

"Well, I at least would expect you to stay awake for now. We have a new student today." That made several people perk up. "I don't know why Hokage allowed someone late into the year but please welcome our new student. You can come in now." The door slid open and Naruto strode through the class room and stood at the center.

"Yo! My name is Naruto Inseki! Please take care of me," Naruto said with a bright smile. Suddenly there were several whispers were then heard throughout the class and people were pointing at him. Iruka could already feel a storm brewing with all these people talking, as well as the looks the people were giving the blond. Several girls, even some of the most devout Sasuke fangirls, were blushing at him (Iruka thinks it's the red tips in the blonde's hair). The boys seemed to be sizing him up already, some of them giving a few glares at him.

The most surprising of the reactions were from Hitomi and Naruko. Naruko was beaming to say the least. It was as if she knew the boy. Hitomi's was off in the other direction. Her mouth literally dropped down and she seemed to be shocked at the fact that the boy was even there. It looked like there was recognition in her eyes as well.

"Naruto! You joined our class?" Naruko shouted excitedly.

"Yeah, about that. I was supposed to be here yesterday to introduce myself, but Hokage-sama and I kept talking about me and my expectations that we talked straight into the night," Naruto apologized while scratching the back of his head. Naruto then turned his head a little to the side and his eyes widened.

"Naruto is that really you?" Hitomi asked. The blond boy smiled slightly.

"You actually remembered me. How are you?"

"I've been better, and yourself?" When Naruto opened his mouth to reply, the group heard someone coughing to the side. Naruto turned to Iruka who gave him a mild glare.

"I hate to break up this little reunion, but would you please take a seat Inseki-san. We do have a lesson to teach," Iruka explained. "You may wish to sit with them if you wish seeing as Hinata is not here today."

"Thanks," Naruto said as he made his way up towards the back of the class. As he did, he could hear the whispers changing already. They were talking mostly about why the two girls knew him and wondering where he came from. The blond couldn't help but roll his eyes. It was weird being a preteen again. As he took his seat next to Naruko, he gave a smile towards Hitomi. She returned it with a look saying that they need to talk.

"So Naruto what are you doing here?" Naruko asked. The boy smiled and pointed a thumb to the front.

"I'm here to learn? Aren't you?" he teased. He then turned his head towards the front. Iruka and Hitomi watched a bit speechlessly as they saw Naruko staring at the blond boy with her mouth agape due to the fact that he just brushed her off. Naruto noticed the staring and reached out before cupping her chin and closing her mouth. "You should really close your mouth. Don't want flies going in there right?" The girl then blushed bright red before looking away from him. This had Hitomi and Iruka even more dumbfounded. Someone, other than Kushina, who could render Naruko speechless. After another second or two, Iruka started his lesson but eyed the new blond boy every so often.

* * *

Mugen no Ken Form

Scorpio- _Yuudoku Seppun (Poisonous Kiss)_

Weapon Type: Dagger

Element: Water

Ability: Releases a highly lethal toxin from the blade. Purple part of weapon is the the gauge in which you can determine how much poison is left. If all the poison is used, it takes about three days of disuse to be fully refilled.


	5. Making Friends

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto.

Sup. here's the new chapter. I would like to thank all of you who review added and faved and what not from the last one.

* * *

Throughout the whole day of class Naruko kept stealing glances at Naruto, just as Hitomi did. Hitomi wanted to ask all these questions about the boy, to get to know him better. Naruko wanted to just talk to him; he was her friend after all. They weren't the only ones looking at the blond, who was staring at the board with a bored expression.

Iruka stole glances at the boy as well during the lesson; or rather he was looking at Naruko looking at the boy. He was surprised that Naruko kept herself quiet due to the words of one boy. Sasuke, the playboy and annoying prick of a person he was (Hitomi's words), was glaring at the boy. The blond was stealing his fangirls just by sitting there. Hinata was also looking at him, although she was just more curious as to the history between him and her two best friends. Other people were giving him looks too, but they were more blatant about it and Naruto just straight out ignored them.

"Naruto," Iruka called out. The blond boy looked up and stared at the teacher.

"Yes Iruka-sensei?" he responded.

"Answer this question: Which Hokage set up the Academy, the ANBU and the Konoha Military Police and the Chunin Exams? The rest of the class should know this since it was in their reading last night." Iruka sent them a light glare and a few of the kids flinched, they didn't read the material.

"It was the Nidaime Hokage, Tobirama Senju, was the one who established those organizations," Naruto replied with a smile. He was really glad that he had Kage Bunshins read those books the night before. He was too lazy to do it himself. Iruka blinked. He was sure the boy wouldn't know that. Heck, half the kids in the room didn't know that.

"You're correct." Iruka then turned to the other kids. "Kiba!" The boy and his dog looked up from where he was sitting. He looked dazed and confused a bit. The reason for it was he was ogling Hitomi, Hinata and Naruko while also glaring at Naruto. He cursed the blond for being able to sit between two hot chicks and getting the attention of several others.

"Huh what?" was what he stated as he looked at his teacher.

"The Shodaime Hokage known for what kekkei genkai?"

"Um…uh…pass?" Kiba answered slowly. That caused several people to snicker at him, including Naruko and Hitomi. Hinata had the decency to not show that she was laughing. The boy huffed and looked away as his dog tried to make him feel better.

"Kiba you should know this," Iruka said with a sigh. "If you read the book last night you should have found the answers. I mean even Naruto read and he is new to the class."

"Hey Iruka-sensei! Don't compare him to me! We're different people so you shouldn't put him to my standards," Naruto shouted. That caused the snickering to stop, even Kiba looked at Naruto confused.

"What do you mean Naruto?"

"Look we all learn at different levels and different ways. I just like to read and I'm guessing Kiba probably doesn't. I'm just saying that he could have probably learned that if it was put in a different way instead of just reading. Right Kiba?" The class was stunned. They expected Naruto to laugh with them at Kiba's misfortune, not come to his aid. Kiba himself also looked surprised. The new kid was defending his honor and they weren't even friends yet.

"Yeah, he's right. I mean reading get's so boring for me Iruka-sensei," Kiba agreed. "I mean if you made history more fun somehow, I probably would have learned that."

"See what I mean?" For his part, Naruto knew that if things kept going the way they were, Iruka would have probably lead to Kiba hating him if he was compared to him. Having years of experience in something similar in the previous timeline lead him to know how to change that.

"I see," Iruka said with a nod of his head. "Well, I'll let you off the hook for now Kiba, but you should study more. You need to thank Naruto for helping." Kiba's pride said that he shouldn't since he didn't need the help, but his instincts knew that Iruka was right. Naruto decided to defend him and he should feel grateful. Not only that, but his instincts were yelling at him to not cross Naruto. It was as if he was an alpha in a pack.

After that the bell rang for lunch, which gave the students an hour to eat their food as long as they stayed on campus. This led to both Hitomi and Naruko to drag the blond boy to 'their spot' on the Academy grounds; it was a tall tree where a swing was tied to a branch. Hinata followed a ways away for she was interested in who this blond boy was. As they were walking, Naruto could feel the glares of several boys on him, for once again two hot girls were on his arms.

Hitomi and Naruko unceremoniously then dropped him onto his butt next to the trunk of the tree, with both of them following a few moments later. Hinata arrived just a few seconds after them.

"So tell me Naruto, where have you been? I forgot to ask about it two days ago, but I'm curious now," Naruko asked excitedly.

"Shouldn't you introduce me to your friend first?" Naruto questioned as he looked at Hinata. It looked like this Hinata wasn't as shy around him as in the last timeline, but then again she didn't have a crush on him for years. Naruko blushed in embarrassment while Hitomi rolled her eyes.

"Whoops, sorry about that. Naruto this is Hinata Hyuuga. Hinata meet Naruto Inseki."

"It is nice to meet you Naruto-san," Hinata said with a small bow. Naruto raised an eyebrow. She didn't have her stutter, but then again she didn't crush on him for years on end. It actually made him smile seeing her like this, with more than a of confidence in her posture.

"Nice to meet you. Let's be friends yeah?" Naruto bowed back.

"So where have you been these five years?" Naruko asked again becoming impatient.

"Um…where have I been the past few years?" Naruto thought aloud. He looked up to the sky in thought for a moment. Could he tell them the truth? _'I guess I can. It's not like I did anything too serious other than train and set up a little spy network._' "Well to be honest I just travelled around looking for my family. I found them a while back."

"You have?" Hitomi asked surprised. "If you found them, why did you not stay with them?" Naruto gave them a small smile and his face saddened. Kami he really didn't want to lie but he had to.

"They're all dead," he told them. Well, technically, this was true. His original family was dead and in this one he not born but arrived. "I found the remains of my village and it was destroyed by some natural disaster."

"Oh…" Hitomi gasped. "I'm so sorry." Naruko also seemed saddened by the news, while Hinata was confused. The Hyuuga member was not up to date about Naruto, so she made a note to ask either Naruko or Hitomi about it.

"Don't worry about it. At least I know where I come from." Naruto then gave them a bright smile. "Now I can think about my future." This managed to make Hitomi to blush. Hinata took notice of this and giggled.  
"Other than that though, I took my time learning different skills. That was a backup just in case my career as a ninja didn't work out well enough."

"Like what Inseki-san?" Hinata asked as she finally contributed into the conversation.

"Please call me Naruto Hinata-san," Naruto replied back. "I'll feel weird if you start calling me by my last name."

"Okay Naruto-san, but you still did not answer my question."

"Ah as to what I was learning…well you can say I learned how to play some music, sail on a boat and a few other things. My adoptive father said I was a jack of all trades and a master of none."

"Huh? What does that mean?" Naruko asked. Naruto turned to her two friends.

"Is she usually this slow on the uptake?"

"Pretty much," Hitomi replied.

"Sometimes," Hinata answered.

"HEY! I'm not that bad or stupid." Naruko shouted back with a pout.

"We're not saying that Naruko-chan," Naruto said to appease her as he patted her on the head. " Besides we're just joking around. Also, as to what I mean by I'm a jack of all trades is that I can do a lot of stuff but being a master of none means that I'm not that great at all the things I do."

"That sound's awful."

"Eh, I'm still twelve. I'll get stronger and better over time." Naruko nodded her head, finally understanding what he meant and took a bite of her onigiri before stopping mid-chew. She noticed that she, Hitomi and Hinata all had food but Naruto had nothing.

"Hey, did you forget your lunch or something?" The two other girls looked up and then at Naruto. The blond boy himself was just sitting around and humming.

"I sort of forgot to bring it. Don't worry though, I'll be okay."

"Are you sure Naruto-san?" Hinata asked. "I can give you some of my bento if you'd like. We do have taijutsu practice after lunch."

"I said I'd be fine."

"Hey you!" a voice shouted out. Everyone looked down the way to see Kiba walking towards them. "Naruto Inseki I need to have a word with you."

"Okay." Naruto stood up but Hitomi grabbed his hand. He raised an eyebrow wondering what was the problem.

"He might want to pick a fight with you," she explained. "He is a bit hot headed so-"

"If he starts a fight it's okay. I can handle myself Hitomi." Naruto dusted his pants off before walking over to the boy with the dog. Kiba seemed a bit unsure of what to do now but Naruto was wondering what he wanted to say.

"Look man I wanted to say thanks for defending me during class and I'm sorry for glaring at you," Kiba apologized. Akamaru yipped from a top his head. Naruto looked up towards the dog and made a confused face.

"We can bring pets here?" he asked, faking his stupidity.

"Akamaru is not a pet, he's my partner. I'm from the Inuzuka Clan and we have a special connection to dogs."

"I see, and to be honest it's okay if you were glaring at me. " Naruto then put a hand over Kiba's shoulder and whispered into his ear. "Being around hot girls has guys doing that." Kiba snorted in amusement and Akamaru gave a slight bark in approval. Suddenly the bell rang and everyone started to go inside. "Hey, I'll try to hang out with you after class okay."

"Sure. You seem like a great guy." Kiba went into the class first with all the others. The blond boy waited until the three girls stood next to him before walking towards the class.

"What did Kiba want?" Naruko asked. Naruto saw that she had a slightly pink tinge on her face and smirked.

_'So she likes Kiba eh?'_ Naruto thought to himself. "Nothing much, he was just thanking me for defending him in class." Soon after that Naruto just ignored everything, as everyone was horded into the class then horded out of it right after it. Since they had to do the taijutsu practice outside in the main grounds. Everyone would be paired up with another person and have to do battle with each other only doing hand-to-hand combat.

"And since he is new hear, let's have Naruto Inseki go against…Sasuke Uchiha," Iruka exclaimed.

"Wait what?" Naruto exclaimed as he zoned back into the conversation.

"You're going to go against Sasuke in a taijutsu fight," Hitomi whispered into his ear. Looking down the line, Naruto saw Sasuke with his fangirls looking at him curiously. He also noticed Karin standing there next to Sakura and Ino. Naruto gave her a smile and a wave. Sakura and Ino seemed surprised when Karin waved back. The blond then saw them whispering to Karin, probably about him. Naruto shook his head before making his way towards a circle drawn in the on the ground in white chalk. Sasuke sauntered over as well.

It was during this time that Naruto looked at what Sasuke was wearing. Just like himself, he was wearing a zip up hoodie, save his was grey instead of black and had the Uchiha fan on the back. He wore black shorts and blue sandals. Oddly enough, Naruto noticed that both of them were wearing nearly matching clothes.

"So you're the Naruto my sister spoke about all those years ago," Sasuke asked with a smile. "It's nice to meet you." The Uchiha boy offered his hand. Naruto, deciding to be nice about things, smiled back.

"Nice to meet you Sasuke Uchiha," Naruto greeted as he took the boy's hand. Just as they shook hands Naruto felt something odd happen. He saw a forest green energy cover Sasuke, just as cyan blue energy covered him, the same energy that comes from his Mugen no Ken. He also noticed Sasuke's eyes widened when they shook hands. It seemed like he noticed the odd energy too. When both boys let go of each other, they took a quick look around and saw that no one else saw the odd energy covering both of them.

"Dobe is that you?" Sasuke asked causing Naruto's eyes to widen and several people to gasp.

"Teme?" Sasuke snorted and nodded his head. This had everyone murmuring about how those two knew each other. Naruto watched as the Uchiha made a motion that they'll have to talk later. The blond nodded and turned to Iruka. "So just only taijutsu?"

"Yes Inseki-san, you can only use taijutsu," Iruka replied.

"Any rules for this?"

"First to surrender, first to be hit out of the ring and first to use something that is not taijutsu is the loser. Also you must listen to when I say stop the match. Is that clear?"

"Crystal. So why don't you start the match, please?"

"Sasuke are you ready?"

"Un," Sasuke grunted.

"Then begin!" Naruto's eyes raised an eyebrow just as Sasuke closed the distance between them. He could hear the girls cheer just as Sasuke kicked his foot out from beneath him, causing Naruto to flip over and land on his back. Next thing he knew Sasuke's fist was in front of his face. Every girl was cheering, while you could hear the boys groaning at yet another person losing to Sasuke. The students then noticed that Sasuke seemed to have stopped his assault on Naruto, wondering what was up.

"Why did you stop your attack?" Naruto asked with a smirk.

"I could ask you the same thing dobe," Sasuke replied. Everyone seemed confused at this again, wondering when Naruto attacked. Iruka, having been standing on the same side as the students, walked around and saw what Sasuke meant. Naruto's left leg, hidden from view from the students, was close to hitting Sasuke on the back of the head. If Iruka were right, Naruto would have managed to knock out Sasuke the moment he punched Naruto. Also if he knew Sasuke, Naruto would have gotten knocked out as well. The two of them would have knocked each other out and ended the match in a tie.

Soon the Uchiha heir got off of Naruto and stood a ways away from him. "Seems like you learned a few things since we last saw each other dobe," Sasuke commented.

"It's been a few years teme," Naruto replied with his own smirk. "Although it seems like you mellowed out in a few things, but started to mature in a few others." Sasuke saw Naruto's eyes move over to the fangirls, all watching in confusion, before moving towards him again.

"Hn," was the response the blond got. "We'll have to continue our talk later though. Too many people are around."

"Yeah, yeah. Hey Iruka-sensei!" Naruto shouted out. The chunin, who was watching their little exchange with interest, looked back at Naruto.

"What is it Inseki-san?" the teacher asked.

"I surrender." That caused everyone to face fault. The boys were groaning in disappointments, while fangirls were saying that Naruto was scared of their Sasuke-sama.

"Why do you say that?" Iruka asked. Naruto smirked in response.

"Because a fight between me and Sasuke would be boring if it's just taijutsu."

"The dobe is right," Sasuke said causing everyone to look at him. "We'd just end up knocking each other out." Sasuke then turn to Naruto again. "Hey dobe, we'll meet up at the place where we met each other the last time we saw each other." Naruto nodded and walked over to Hitomi, Naruko and Hinata; all of who were looking at him strangely. He wasn't only one getting strange looks. Sasuke's fangirls were staring at Sasuke in an odd fashion.

"Why did you stop fighting?" Naruko pouted. "I mean sure you fell down after Sasuke's attack, but that didn't mean you have to give up."

"Heh. We'd have ended in a draw if we actually continued," Naruto replied. He then crossed his arms and leaned against the wall of the building.

"Huh?" was the articulate response of Naruko, although Hitomi seemed a bit confused as well.

"Naruto-san's was about to kick Sasuke when Sasuke attacked him. You didn't see it but his left leg was close to Sasuke's neck when he was about to punch Naruto. They both stopped at the last moment," Hinata explained. When Naruto looked at Hinata with a questioning look she gave him a sheepish smile. "I sort of used my Byakugan to see what was happening. Sorry."

"It's fine. You may have to apologize to Sasuke though. I'm not sure if he's okay with or not."

"How do you know my brother?" Hitomi asked. That question had Naruto freeze for a second before coming up with a lie right there and then.

"I sort have had a run in with him the last time I was here. You know how we left to get to your school that time earlier than your brother?" Hitomi nodded. "Well, when I left I sort have met with him when I was walking around." Naruto made a frown as to make it seem more believable. "We didn't hit it off, and I don't think he remembered me until today."

"I still don't understand why you had to stop fighting," Naruko pouted. "I mean if you can fight Sasuke, why don't you?"

"You can ask him instead of me you know, but let's watch the rest of the matches for now." Naruko wanted to protest but stopped when Hitomi shook her head.

"We can always get information from him later," she whispered into her friend's ear. So they all returned to watching fights and cheering people on when it was necessary.

When it was one of the girls' turns to fight Naruto took the time to watch them carefully to fully see how they were in taijutsu. Hinata, Naruto noted, was far more capable in her Juken at this age compared to the Hinata in Naruto's original timeline. Although he really couldn't say much since she was fighting a civilian, namely a fangirl, and mopped the floor with her. Hitomi was called next and she was told to fight Ino. Her fighting style was fast and powerful. In a matter of few punches, she was able to overwhelm Ino. Although, unlike the previous girl, Ino manage to block some punches and managed to hit Hitomi at least once or twice before she went down.

As for Naruko's fight…

"Come back and fight like a man!" she shouted as she chased a very scared boy with a bloody nose around the training arena. Her fighting style, or lack there of, was very similar to his own before he learned Frog Kata. She was a brawler through and through. She just pounced the moment the fight started and wailed on the boy's face with her fist. Sadly the boy didn't want to surrender, but was terribly afraid of the blond girl, ergo the current situation.

"Shouldn't we stop them?" Naruto asked.

"We should, but Iruka-sensei usually allows this go on so he can laugh a bit Naruto-san," Hinata explained to him. This made the boy tilt his head in confusion. Apparently Iruka here had a bit of a sadist streak in him.

_'Oh kami, I hope he isn't dating Anko,'_ Naruto thought to himself._ 'That is a scary thought.' _About a minute later, Naruko knocked the boy out and proceed to walk back towards her group of friends.

"So how was it Naruto? Did you like my fight?" Naruko asked him.

"It was interesting," the blond boy responded. Iruka then cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

"I know it is early, but class is dismissed. I have to speak to the Hokage about some things, so you may leave. Just remember to read sections five and seven of your history book," he told them before he used _Shunshin_ to leave the area. The children whopped and started to head home, as did Naruto's group.

"Hey Naruto, want to hang out?" Naruko asked. "I know this great ramen place we can go eat at." Both Hitomi and Hinata rolled their eyes at their friend's love of ramen. Naruto chuckled next to her.

"I'd love to but I need to meet up with someone right now. Our meeting may take a while," Naruto smiled at her. "Don't worry though. Next time I'll hang out." He then turned around and began to walk towards the training grounds.

"Who do you think he's meeting up with?" Hitomi wondered.

"You don't suppose it's a girlfriend," Hinata said curiously.

"Why would he have a girlfriend? He just moved here yesterday," Naruko stated.

"Let's go follow him and find out," Hitomi suggested.

"Are you sure about this?" Hinata asked.

"Of course I'm sure. Besides, he may be up to no good by doing this."

"Alright! Mission: Stalk Naruto is a go!" Naruko shouted. This drew looks from several people towards the trio of girls. Hitomi face palmed, while Hinata giggled. Naruko, oblivious to the stares then ran off towards the direction Naruto went.

(Naruto)

Knowing that the girls may end up following him, Naruto used a quick _henge_ as well as a _Kage Bunshin_ to create a distraction for him. He soon arrived at his destination: Training Ground 44, aka the Forest of Death. Walking closer over to the fence, Naruto jumped over it and continued on into the dangerous forest. He only took about a minute before he saw the person he was going to meet: Sasuke Uchiha. "If you really are the teme I know, tell me what is the worst experience we shared together?" Naruto asked as he approached. Sasuke turned towards him, and looked a little green at what he was thinking.

"That accident kiss on the lips," the Uchiha blanched. Naruto had to repress a shudder as he stood next to him.

"Well, that really makes you the Sasuke from my timeline. I just need to know is how you got here."

"It's a long story dobe," Sasuke sighed.

"Well, I have time teme." Naruto leaned against a tree across from Sasuke. "Now tell me, what happened after the last time I saw you. Sakura and I thought you died after our battle against Tobi."

"Technically, I think I did."

"Oh?"

"Well, you see when the _Gedou_ exploded, all that unnatural chakra from the Bijuu seemed to cover me during that time, just as Tobi was using his space-time ninjutsu. As that happened, I was transported here, to this timeline." Naruto raised his eyebrow at that.

"That seems odd."

"It does, doesn't it? I really have no other explanation other than that for how I got here."

"Did you regress in age when you got here?" Naruto asked.

"By that jutsu?" The blond nodded. "No, I regressed in age due to another reason."

"Which would be?" Sasuke put a serious face on and looked at Naruto.

"Tell, what have you heard about the _Mugen no Ken_?"

"Quite a few things actually. Supposed legendary weapon of the _Rikudo Sennin _that no one has seen before. Why do you ask?" Naruto questioned as he stared at Sasuke. The Uchiha pushed off his tree and held out his right hand. There was a flash of green that forced Naruto to cover his eyes for a second. When the flash died down, Naruto saw a blade in Sasuke's hand. It was a katana with a blade about three feet in length. The outer part of the blade was a emerald green and the inside was a ruby red. The handle of the blade looked rather simple and Naruto could find no sheath in sight. Taking a closer look at it, he noticed twelve symbols on it, although they were different from his own set.

"I managed to find it in this world, deep inside a cavern. Sadly, it forced me to regress in age as well as a few of my previous abilities due to exchanging so much chakra to release this blade. I no longer have the _Mangekyou Sharingan._ In exchange I was given a weapon with multiple forms though. For some reason though it seemed like my parents in this world had lost their previous original Sasuke when he was walking in the woods as a child. So when I came walking back into the clan compound, they just welcomed me with open arms."

"Interesting," Naruto said inspecting the blade. His eye narrowed so he can read the inscriptions on the side and was relatively surprised to see that the symbols were just the numbers two through thirteen although they were oddly colored. After his quick inspection Naruto nodded to himself and leaned away from Sasuke.

"So how did you get here? In this timeline I mean." The blond smirked and stretched out his right hand. There was a flash of blue and his _Mugen no Ken_ appeared. Sasuke's eyes widened.

"Where did you…"

"Where did I get this? Well, this is the blade from our timeline. I used it and arrived here as well," Naruto told him.

"So I'm guessing things went sour after the war if you are here."

"Yeah, the world was toxic and everything was dying. I thought that if I got this sword I would be able to change the world." Naruto sighed while shaking his head. "We technically did. We're not in our own timeline any more."

"I know. Any chances of going back?"

"None that I can think of, meaning that we are stuck here." The two ninjas from another time were silent as they took it all in. Just so they knew their situation. Naruto released a sigh again, just as Sasuke did. The blond then looked at his friend and decided to ask something. "How come you seem less crazy?"

"That is a good question," Sasuke laughed. "Well in this timeline, most of the Uchiha clan is still alive. Not everyone was crazy enough to follow my dad's orders of betraying Konoha. Itachi still ended up murdering the people who wanted to betray Konoha and became a nuke-nin."

"So having your family made you less crazy?"

"I guess so. At least now I know that there is still hope for the Uchiha Clan here in this timeline, especially if Hitomi will take over instead of me."

"Yeah, she seems like she has her head screwed on right." The blond then stretched for a moment, before looking at Sasuke. "How about a quick battle, I want to stretch my leg. I also want to see what weapons you have in your armory."

"Hmm. That sounds like a good idea. How should we do this?"

"How about only long range weapons?" Naruto suggested. The sword in his right hand glowed for a few seconds with a red flash. Now his hands held a golden bow roughly almost as tall as he was. Along the handle were three red jewels. There was also a odd symbol at the very middle of the bow that seemed like an arrow. The oddest thing was there was no string and Naruto had no quiver.

"Hm...interesting," Sasuke laughed. He held up his katana and the number two flashed on the katana and a purple. Soon two crossbows that were purple in color replaced the katana in his hands. Oddly enough, these two crossbows were also missing strings and he had no quivers himself. Sasuke disappeared in a small burst of speed, with Naruto following soon after.

The two appeared in a clearing where Naruto was pulling back something on his bow. A flaming arrow appeared in between his fingers as the bottom most of the jewels glowed. He then shot it at Sasuke. The Uchiha clan heir dodged the flaming arrow by hiding behind a boulder. "Hey Sasuke!" Naruto shouted at Sasuke. The other boy looked out from the boulder and saw his opponent smirking. "Boom." Sasuke's eyes widened as he jumped away. Right in time too, the boulder exploded.

In retaliation Sasuke shot two bolts made out of charka at Naruto. The blond boy easily dodged the attack. "Hey Naruto," Sasuke mimicked his called out to his blond friend. "Watch your back." Naruto then turned around and saw the bolts bounce off a tree trunk and was shot towards him. After they hit the floor, they broke like glass. Naruto grunted before summoning another arrow and shot it. Unlike the first one, this one split into several arrows and began to rain down on where Sasuke was standing. The Uchiha heir started shooting chakra bolts in all directions causing them to bounce off one arrow and into another one. Soon all arrows and bolts had cancelled out each other.

"This may take awhile," Naruto laughed as he shot more flaming arrows at his opponent. Sasuke matched his laugh with a smirk while dodging more attacks and shooting his bolts at Naruto.

(Several Hours Later)

One Anko Mitarashi, had made her way through the Forest of Death thinking of releasing some stress since she was on break from the Torture and Intelligence Division for the next few days. As she made her way through, she found something weird in one small clearing. "What happened here?" she asked allowed. The some of the trees were lit in flames and there were several holes in the ground, trees and rocks. There were also large amounts of chakra radiating from the area. "Who the hell was having fun here and didn't invite me!?"

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